Of Carrots and Rabbits
by Esid
Summary: People are sometimes fated to meet. When a peddler by the name of Robin goes to trade some goods to a small town in Ylisse, the last thing he expected was to meet a certain bunny that would change his life forever.
1. 7th of the 1st month of Autumn

There aren't enough stories for this pairing, so here is my go at it. I had to keep things interesting, so when this idea popped into my head, I knew I had to get it down. It'll a bit different from my other work, but I liked it.

Let me know what you think by leaving a review! Enjoy~

 _Inspired by Spice and Wolf_

* * *

Day 7th of the 1st month of Autumn

Today had started like any other day. I'd been traveling for close to a week, making my way from Themis to a small town in the south-west of Ylisse, fittingly called Southtown, to trade some goods I obtained at a town on the other side of the Plegia-Ylisse border that could fetch a good price on this side based on information I obtained from another trader. It was the nicest day I could ask for, with a nice, clear sky and gentle cool breeze blowing as my horse pulled the cart of supplies. The flowers were blooming on the grass plains to my left and to my right, adding even more color to the already vivid green. Even the smell of wet dirt and grass was a pleasant change to that of the deserts of Plegia or even the canyons around Themis. It was so nice in fact, that I decided to stretch my legs and walk alongside my horse for a change.

Ylisse has always been good to me. Not only are prices of goods predictable and the value of its currency stable in comparison to that of Plegia and Ferox, but it also lacks in bandits, despite hosting the smallest army in the continent. This comes as a breath of fresh air for peddlers like myself. I've learned to not worry much about being attacked when traveling through Ylisse, which allowed me to relax and enjoy the incredible views I come by from time to time. Unfortunately, despite how good it may seem, making any real gold by trading local goods, while it would keep me sustained, it would also keep me from getting enough of a profit because of the many expenses that come from traveling. If I wanted to keep on traveling around for the rest of my days, it would be bliss. Alas, that is not my dream, and so I choose to go at this the hard way: importing and exporting goods.

But I digress. As I was saying, I was traveling to Southtown. Despite it being no city, the small town finds itself flooded with traders during spring and autumn every year. The reason for this is its proximity to the Outrealm Gate, or so the rumor goes. If you ask me, it sounds ridiculous… But it would explain the strange goods that I've seen there before… I was even thinking about a similar thing that day when I finally spotted the church tower coming appearing in the horizon. Trees too came into view as I got closer to the town. The forest that surrounds the town is a welcomed sight, as it means that I've reached the final stretch of my journey. I got back on my cart, thinking that I might as well hurry to get the goods off and plan my next route. With a small swing of the reins, the horse continues forward.

Finally, after almost a week, I reached my destination. The voices of the many pedestrians that crowd the small streets of town filled the air, but before I could count myself as one of them, I had to cross a small stone bridge built over the river that crosses the front of the town (the reason the area had been first settled in, I imagine). Though it looks plain, the bridge can hold a great amount of weight. I didn't think twice about it when I had the horse cross it. My only complaint would be that the cobblestone doesn't mix well with my cart, but that is a problem with the cart's suspension showing its age, not the bridge's construction.

On the streets I saw kids playing around and chasing each other while adults tried to avoid them while they went about their business, but they all have smiles on their faces. Whenever I spotted a few familiar faces, I would wave at them, making a note to go back and have a word if I had the chance later on. Street vendors had long taken over both sides of the main street, showing off their goods for all to see. What constantly caught my eye was food. There were a lot of farmers selling some of the local harvest, ranging from apples to carrots. I was tempted to stop and buy something for myself, my stomach rumbling at the sight, but I couldn't stop my cart to do so; it would have blocked half the street. The people that built the first stone buildings of the town hadn't intended the area to become a makeshift market, clearly. So, with a sigh, I kept myself focused.

There are three inns in Southtown. You may think that it sounds like enough for a town. You would be wrong. For a place that sees a lot of traders, adventurers, and travelers heading to or from the capital, it is not nearly enough. What's more, my options are limited even more because of my cart. From the three inns, only one counts with a small barn on the back that I can keep my cart in and have someone take care of my horse while I go about doing my business. It's also at the other edge of town. Crossing the length of it took me more than I hoped it would, but because I had made good time traveling to town in the first place, I wasn't so bothered by it.

After some navigation and perfect avoidance of the busier streets, I finally reach the Rabbit Crest Inn, a place I've become all too familiar with over my years as a peddler. The owners of the place—an old couple that have been married for longer than I've been alive—greeted me at the door like they always do with any other potential customer, though I like to think that our familiarity is the real cause behind it. At first glance, it looked like I won't be able to get a room for the night, but they reassured me that they still had one room available, although it was in the attic. I told them that I didn't mind it; a place to sleep is a place to sleep. Even if the bed turned out to be hay, if I have a roof over my head, I'm happy. Plus, it would be cheaper too! I handed over a couple of silvers to book the room for three nights. The husband helped me get my horse and cart out of the way while his wife went to clean up to prepare the room for me.

They offered me some lunch, which I kindly accepted. I amused myself by talking with them about any news they might have heard from the other guests, but they didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know. The conversation turned more personal as we asked each other how we've been since I last visited. Two seasons had passed since, so there was much to catch up on. Those two are nice people. I like them. I often feel like I'm talking with my own grandparents whenever I'm here, even if I never really got to know my real grandparents. The owners have always treated me well. Maybe that's why I feel such a thing. I know that their son and his wife died long ago, so they treat their guests as family, especially frequent ones like myself.

Eventually, I asked about news on a certain trader, hoping to know if he was in town. From the locals, a trader named Jared was the one I would deal with the most because he paid top coin for spices and ore. As it happened, I had been transporting one of these two. I wanted to meet with him to see about selling or trading goods. Unfortunately, I was told that he was out of town, searching the woods for medicinal herbs. The woods surrounding Southtown have been blessed with top-quality herbs used in vulneraries, the most widely used medicine in the world, both in ointment and concoction. I wasn't too upset to learn this. No matter how much I wish for it, not everyone's schedule revolves around mine.

With my meal done and our conversation dying down, I told the owners that I would be taking a stroll on the outskirts of town. I knew the area enough to not be worried about losing my way and to keep myself away from bear paths. It was no problem for me. I was secretly hoping to find Jared, in all honesty. The chances of that happening were low, but I wanted to give it a shot. Even if I didn't find him, I could take advantage of the trip and look around for some of the herbs myself. I may not be able to make potions from scratch, but I've learned to distinguish good quality ingredients from mediocre ones the more I trade around. If I could find a lot, it would mean that the harvest for them had yet to start, which would in turn hinder my schedule, as I would be forced to wait in town until enough of it was gathered for me.

Another important lesson I've learned is that when you walk around outside of any town, you should always bring supplies with you. It's better to be prepared than to be caught with your pants down to your ankles. I walked back to the old barn to retrieve my satchel from my cart. In it I carry a few things that can come in handy, always making sure to keep it stocked. I have a small pot and pan that can be tied together to create a small container, which I use to keep a small supply of vegetables and dry meat, a vulnerary (for obvious reasons), a knife, a canteen, and a Fire tome I like to keep around to defend myself. The strap on the satchel lays snugly against my shoulder and across my chest. With it secured, I started walking on the same path I took to get to the inn.

To someone that might see the woods for the first time, they would seem intimidating. Tall trees with canopies of leaves that covered the entirety of the sky, many bushes of poison ivy, and tree trunks marked by bear claws. Yes, it is not the most inviting sight. If I didn't know any better, I would've turned back too. The first few times I visited Southtown, I remember being nervous about it, but now? I've grown past that fear. If there's a log or a big rock on my path, I jump around it to keep myself out of a hidden snake's range. If there's poison ivy, I steer away from it. Bees? Not today! It's easy to keep yourself safe when you can recognized the dangers around you. But if you start being overly paranoid and thinking that everything can kill you, you won't enjoy the stroll, which was the whole point of a stroll.

I wasn't in a particular hurry to find Jared. I already knew that I could find him in his store the next morning if it came down to it. This allowed me to take my time and enjoy the nature around me. My boots were getting muddy from walking around, but I didn't mind all that much. In fact, it was because of that—stepping on some mud that is—that I spotted a few of the herbs I was looking for. There were four of them bunched up together around the roots of an old tree. On closer inspection, I noticed that only one of them was of the same quality of what I would expect out of Jared's products—fresh, but mature. The fact that I'd only come across one was good news for me. It meant that the harvest was underway after all. I smiled to myself as I plucked the herb off the ground and stored it in my satchel.

When the first raindrops started to fall, I was already well away from town. I tried ignoring them at first, but even with the canopy covering me from most of them, I could feel the cold droplets landing on my hair and shoulders. More and more were falling by the minute. Seeing how the day had been before I got to the forest, I deduced that it was a flash rainstorm. They aren't unusual around these parts. Big clouds come, pour rain down on the area for an hour or two, and then they disappear as if they were never there. I decided to look for some shelter to take cover while I let the storm pass.

It took me a while to find anything. By the time I found a small cave on the side of a hill, my cloak and hair were drenched. I felt my my arms shivering from the cold. I noticed that the cave was full of twigs and dry branches. Thinking back on it, I should have found it strange. I should have asked myself: _how did those get in here?_ But no, I remember thinking: _Great!_ Dropping my satchel on the ground, I collected what I could to start a fire to warm myself up. I even found three long branches that, putting them against the wall and having one go through the arm holes on my cloak, I used to hang my cloak to dry.

Another benefit of carrying a Fire tome is that it comes handy in situations like that. I took it out of my satchel, holding it close to make sure not to drop it on any of the many small puddles around the cave as I approached the pile of twigs I had made. I leafed through the tome until I found one of the most basic spells that creates a fireball the size of my hand. It's just what I needed to get the kindling going. Within a few minuted, my fire was crackling and lighting my surroundings, making the cave feel a little more secure. I sat down close to the fire, holding my hands near it to warm them up faster. Autumn in southern Ylisse may not be as bad as it is in Ferox, but it can get chilly very fast, especially when one is drenched by rain.

An hour passed quickly. Then another. And another… The rain wasn't letting down. Had I brought something with me to read or to entertain myself with, it wouldn't have been so bad. The tome that I had wasn't much fun, and watching the rain hit the rocks and ground could only keep me sane for so long. I hate being bored like that. I hate it because when I get bored, my body starts playing tricks on me, like my stomach, for instance. I was feeling hungry because of boredom! The problem wasn't the lack of anything to eat, it was that if I ate what I had and the rain continued on, I wouldn't have anything by the time I really needed it. I tried to fight the temptation of using up the supplies I had, but in the end, I was too weak. "At least cooking will give me something to do," I told myself as I got the things out of my bag.

Looking at what I had stored on the pot-pan container, I noticed that I had all the ingredients needed for carrot soup. It wasn't a bad recipe, but it wasn't something I would have chosen to eat if I had a choice either at the time. Then again, beggars can't be choosers. I sliced a bit of butter and put it in the pot, which was over the fire. While that melted, I cut up the other ingredients using the pan as a cutting board. I had a nice mix of garlic, half a potato, and a couple of carrots diced in no time. I added them to the pot and then poured in some water (clean rainwater) in it to let it boil. I also added some salt to it and some leftover broth I had on a bottle from a meal I prepared the day before.

I absentmindedly stirred the ingredients together for a while, letting the water boil and the flavor of the broth and garlic get into the carrots and potato slices. It smelled delicious, if I do say so myself. My mouth was watering at one point from the smell alone. Once I was happy with the consistency, I let it cool down. The temptation to just start eating it was high, but I knew better than that. If being stuck on a cave because of rain was bad, imagine what it would be like if you add having a burned tongue to the mix.

Eating soup without a spoon is hard. Thankfully, I did have a knife… There was no one around to judge my manners, so I ended up slurping the soup down and using the knife to pick out pieces of vegetables and popping them into my mouth. The warmth of the broth spread across my belly, leaving me not only satisfied with the food, but also for the warmth it gave me. I kept eating, but because I had eaten lunch a few hours before that, I couldn't finish it all. I decided to set aside the leftovers, knowing that nothing would be attracted to the smell of it with the rain coming down.

I laid down near my fire, just watching the dancing flame move back and forth with my own breathing. I can't remember when it happened, but at some point, my eyelids started to slide down. It had to be because of the meal I'd just had or the soothing sound of the rain hitting the ground. Gods knew that the floor wasn't comfortable. I decided that taking a nap wouldn't be a bad idea, thinking that by the time I woke up, the rain would have stopped and I would be able to head back to town. Slowly, I let sleep overtake me…

I was having an amazing dream about finally being able to open my own shop, which is my actual dream by the way, when I woke up. Disappointed that my sleep had been interrupted, I turned to my side to try to get a better resting position, but sleep didn't return to me. I sat up, stretching my back and my arms to wake up completely since if I can't sleep I might as well wake up. The first thing I notice is how dark the cave had become. The fire burned out on its own while I slept. The lack of noise of any kind also told me that the rain had finally stopped. That was the good news. The bad news was that the moon was high in the sky. My best guess was that I slept for a few hours, at least. It had to be close to midnight for the moon to be so high up in the sky.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, ready to collect my things and head back to the inn. My satchel was on the ground where I left it, but all around it were the other little trinkets I brought with me, like my knife, my canteen, and my tome. I remembered putting them away after I'd finished cooking, so I immediately knew something was off. I took a step forward, accidentally kicking the pan, but I ignored it, instead walking over to the pot. It was empty.

"Weird," I whispered to myself, still looking at the bottom of the pot as if expecting the rest of my soup to magically reappear. It all looked too suspicious. I set down the pot and walked towards my satchel to check it out once again. I always take care of my things. When something is damaged, I replace it or have it fixed as soon as I can. So when I saw that there were something akin to claw marks on the leather flap, I knew something was wrong.

I turned around to take another look at my surroundings once again. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that my cloak, which I had carefully placed to dry against the wall, was on the ground. I clicked my tongue. That cloak cost me a good bit of coin. It was custom made and all specifically for me. It is warm for winter, but not too warm for spring. It is lightweight, despite it being long. The craftsmanship is also superb. I knew that seeing it on the ground was a bad sign. I clicked my tongue again, hoping that it wouldn't be too dirty from any mud on the ground.

I was about to pick it up when I something _moved_ underneath it. It took me by surprise. Taking a step back, my mind was flooded with what could possibly be under it. It could be either a large tarantula or a snake. I scowled, keeping an eye on the cloak as I walked over to my Fire tome. If there _was_ something underneath it, then I could use a spell to get rid of it after I pulled the cloak off. I picked up the tome, already casting a small fireball like the one I used to light my fire. I held the spell on my hand, using it as a torch, as I walked back towards the cloak.

I could see something moving underneath it again. This time the rippling of the cloth was larger. I was sure that some damn snake had decided to make a nest for the night out of my cloak. I approached it slowly, making sure not to alert whatever was underneath it. When I got close enough, I reached out my hand over to it. The creature beneath it noticed, though. Without warning, it shot up. Taken by surprise, I lost my balance and stumbled backwards, but I was still on my feet until I hit some rock. My arse hit the ground. To cushion the fall, I let go of the tome, using both of my hands to brace myself for impact, which also meant that I lost the fire spell I'd cast.

There, in front of me, was the nude figure of a woman with my cloak barely hanging from her shoulders, the moon's gently giving color to her slightly tanned skin. Being the gentleman that I am, I averted my eyes when I caught myself staring at her bosom. My cheeks were burning up, but I found myself looking back at her face to try to apologize to her and hopefully explain the misunderstanding. Only then did I notice something I'd never seen before in my entire life. Two long ears stood straight up from the top of her head. As I watched her in astonishment, she took a step towards me.

I felt the panic rising in me. This woman with long ears, was she there to harm me? She didn't look all that friendly. I pushed myself back, hoping to find my tome, but it landed closer to her feet. She took another step, and so I crawled backwards again, neither of us saying a word. We did this until I hit one of the cave's walls. I felt trapped by the way she was looking at me. Well, _I_ stopped. She kept closing the distance between us, her eyes locked with mine. My heart was racing furiously as I waited for what she would do next.

To my surprise, she sniffed the air. I couldn't help but think that the little movement of her nose was cute, almost reminiscent of a bunny. I was too distracted by the action to see her get on her hands and knees in front of me, her brow furrowed, as she continued to sniff. She crawled over me, her body hovering inches over mine. I pulled my head back, not sure of what to do. I could feel her breath on my cheek as she smelled my neck, my hair, and my chest. She even went as far as brushing her cheek against mine.

"You smell strangely familiar," she finally said with a troubled voice as she pulled away, but her face was still close enough for me to feel her breath on my lips. "I've never met a human with this smell before." I remained quiet. I had no idea what she was referring to—I still don't. I just stared at her, hoping that if I continued to do so, she would get off of me. Her ears lowered down. "Your heart is racing. Do I frighten you so?"

"I-I'm more confused than afraid," I managed to say, still keeping eye contact. Any normal person would think the situation was strange. A lesser man would have jumped on top of her if she presented herself to them like she had. "...Are you the one that went through my things?"

She snorted. "You used the branches and twigs that I collected first. If you were so familiar with what was mine, it is only fair that I do the same to what is yours." So the reason why all that stuff had been there in the first place was because of her. Again, I should have been more cautious when going into a cave full of dry wood…

"You ate the food I had on the pot too?"

"I was out looking for food when the smell hit me. I let myself be guided by my nose and came back here despite the rain. When I saw you falling asleep, I entered the cave again, ready to get you out. But when I saw the soup, I knew I had to try it for myself. It was very tasty. It reminded me of a dish served in my warren."

More things that didn't mean much to me back then. When I asked her if she could let me stand up, she looked at me questionably. I wasn't sure if she understood what I meant until she did it. I felt much more comfortable almost instantly. I still wasn't too sure about her using my cloak, though having the alternative be her standing completely naked, I thought it better to lend it to her for the time being. It fitted her well, I guess. Only when I was standing could I see how tall she truly was. She was at least half a foot taller than me, not counting her ears. I'm by no means a short man. I'm about average for men in Valm, which makes me a bit shorter than average in Ylisse, but not quite as short to be called as such or be made fun of. I wondered how a woman so tall could go around with nothing and not be seen by the townsfolk. At least the cloak did a good job of covering most of her body… Still, I asked her if she could button it up.

She looked down at herself and then back at me. "Why? Do I discomfort you?"

"Well… Seeing a naked woman would fluster any man," I tried to argue.

"Taguel don't wear clothes except for armor."

I raised an eyebrow. "Taguel?"

She nodded. "We are a proud race of shape-shifting warriors. I can change forms from what you see in front of you to a large bunny."

"I understand…" I really didn't understand anything she said, but pretending I did sounded like the best idea. "Then, how come you don't mind wearing my cloak?"

She extended her arms and took a closer look at the cloak. Something told me she had forgotten about it. "Where did you get this? It has a familiar smell to it as well."

I scratched the back of my neck. This...taguel wasn't making much sense. I decided that indulging her would be the smartest move, seeing as she didn't look like she meant any harm. "I had it made some time ago. It's from a small village in Valm, where I lived for a long time."

I took another look at her as she mulled over the information I'd just given her. I could see something that looked like fur covered both her wrists and the back of her hands. It also covered her neck, extending down to just under her clavicle. Her pelvis also had it, with it extending upwards to just under her belly button—I swear I wasn't trying to look anywhere indecent… What really caught my eye was a large cut on her leg. It was covered in mud, but it was there for me to look at. It looked recent too. Before she could say anything, I pointed at it and said, "you're hurt."

She looked at me in surprise for a second. "I had an accident earlier today. I took the herb you had in your bag to alleviate the pain of it."

 _That explains where that went_. "You should get that looked at by a cleric. It could get infected if you don't clean it up. You could lose your leg..."

She furrowed her brow once more. "I don't trust humans."

I felt more confused by the second. I massaged my temple as I looked at her, incredulous. " _I_ am a human. You don't seem to have any problem talking to me…"

Her eyes widened. I don't know how she hadn't noticed. If I was a taguel like her, I would have those long ears and fur all over me, right? I couldn't look any more human even if I tried. "You take care of it then."

"How do you expect me to do that?!" I blurred out. The way she talked to me was as if I was some old friend or I owed her a favor. I knew I'd used some of "her" firewood and "her" cave for shelter, but still! I sighed, thinking that perhaps taguels were just like that. I wouldn't know, she was the first and only taguel I'd met. "Even if you tell me that, I can't do that here. You ransacked my satchel, didn't you? I have a vulnerary, but we need to clean that up first before using the vulnerary and then bandage it to prevent infection."

She stared at me in silence. She asked me where I had the things I was talking about, and I told her that I had it all on my cart back in Southtown. She crossed her arms and stared at me, saying nothing on the matter again. I wasn't sure what she was expecting. I've never been hurt that badly that I needed bandages before, so I don't bother carrying them around with me.

Somehow, I was able to convince her to come back to town with me. I had her (finally) button up the cloak and pull up the cowl over her head. I wouldn't risk causing a commotion if someone saw her and was scared of her. Not only would it cause a problem for me, but it would also put her in danger.

We reached the town easily enough and crossed the bridge over without a problem. It wasn't until we came across more people that something triggered in her. She closed the distance between us, clutching my right arm. I was going to protest, but I could tell she was nervous just by looking at the way her eyes scanned everyone around us. This position was beneficial to us. We wouldn't get as many looks if we walked around like lovers. With her lack of shoes and clothing under the cloak, I preferred to endure it than to risk exposing her any further. I lead her through streets that I knew weren't too active during the night. We did see people around, that was inevitable, but at least we didn't bump into any of my acquaintances. _They_ would want to know who I had brought along…

We reached the fittingly named Rabbit Crest Inn without any real complications. Had it all happened earlier in the day, it wouldn't have been that easy to pull off. Thankfully, the cover of night was helpful, though it didn't dispel the woman's weariness. I had her follow me to the back of the inn first so that I could collect a few things from my cart. There was no need for me to ask one of the owners to open up the barn for me because I already knew where they kept a spare key.

My cart has a few built in drawers I use to keep personal items like extra clothes, medicine, brushes, and what-nots. It pained me to have to bring out most of its contents because of a woman I didn't even know. Still, it wasn't like I could leave her to fare on her own in her condition. I put everything I could into my satchel and then head back out. She was waiting for me there, standing by the door, her back against the wooden walls of the barn. She visibly relaxed when she saw me come out, but said nothing.

The inside of the inn was quiet. The owners and the other guests were already asleep, guessing from how quiet it was inside. Missing dinner upset me, but it also meant not having to bother with sneaking upstairs to the attic.

I took off my boots that were covered with mud as to not dirty up the place. It was then that I noticed we had a problem. While my feet were clean to walk on without my boots, her feet were not. She'd been walking around with nothing to cover her feet since we left the cave. There was a lot of mud covering her feet, but nothing to clean them with. I considered having her wear my boots, but that wouldn't solve the problem.

I crouched down, looking back at her. "Get on," I told her, "I'll give you a piggy-back ride up to my room."

She eyed me suspiciously before doing as I asked. She clutched my shoulders hard, for whatever reason. I could feel her _claws_ digging into my shirt and skin. Likewise, because of our height difference, I could feel the fur from her clavicle and neck on the back of my neck. If it hadn't been for her bosom pressing against my back, I think I would've dropped her from the tickling feeling I was getting. I was glad that she wouldn't be able to see my face. I struggled trying to lift her up. She wasn't all that heavy, but with everything I had on my satchel, the weight added up, not to mention how awkward it is to carry someone taller than you are. Going up the stairs became an ordeal. I'm lucky I didn't drop her a few times. Luck was on our side, as it happened. We reached the attic without any mishaps. I didn't set her down until I reached the bed, though. I had to sit down on it first, letting go of her thighs as she released her grasp on my shoulders.

The room was what you would expect from an attic. It was dark, it was cold, and it was small. There was a big, circular window above the bed, on the wall, which allowed some the moonlight to illuminate the room. There was a dresser with a pitcher of water and a cup set against another wall, with a small couch on the other end. With only three pieces of furniture, the room was quite cramped already. By the door I noticed that the owners left me two buckets full of water, two towels, and a note. I walked over to it to take a closer look. They are good folk. The note said that they'd left me all that so that I could clean myself up when I came back from my stroll. I silently thanked them as I took it all and placed it back down near the bed.

"Let me see your legs," I said as I sat down cross-legged on the floor to feel more comfortable. I threw one of the towels on the clean water before I squeezed out most of it. She looked at me, unsure of what I was doing. I showed her the now damped cloth and said, "I need to clean your leg before I can take care of the wound. You can't be walking around with muddy feet either. The owners of this inn are old. I rather not trouble them with cleaning the floors if they don't have to."

She gingerly extended her right leg towards me, the cloak falling from it as she moved her leg upwards, revealing her thigh in such a way that it was hard for me not to blush. I held her leg in place with my hand and, making sure I was gentle (her claws really hurt my shoulders, I didn't want to think what she could do to my face with them,) I ran the towel across her skin with my other hand, starting from her foot. Her foot would twitch and I coould hear her muffling giggles as I rubbed the mud off, but otherwise, she didn't react to it.

"Do you always think about others like this?"

I stopped what I was doing for a second to look at her, surprised by her question. I hadn't thought about it before. To be honest, peddlers are selfish by nature. I mean, our whole job consists of screwing people over to turn in a profit. We help ourselves before we help others, unless they are a business partner. So hearing that I'm "thinking about others" was a bit shocking. Then again, she didn't know what I did for a living. All she knew about me was that I smelled familiar or something like that…

I shook my head and continued to clean her foot, making sure to rinse the towel when it got too dirty. "I wouldn't say that," I told her as I moved further up her leg. "It's just that these are good people, you know? They helped me in the past, and continue to do so to this day. I think this is the least I can do for them."

By the time I finished washing her legs, one of the buckets water had turned a dark brown. I still had one more, though. I was finally able to take a good look at her wound. It wasn't too deep, but it certainly did look painful. I'm no cleric, so I knew there wasn't much I would be able to do, but I would do what I could. I opened up my satchel and took out everything I needed to treat it for the time being. Using the clean towel that remained, I doused it in alcohol before looking at her to make sure she was alright first. It didn't look like she was having any trouble with what I was about to do, so I naturally assumed she was okay with it. Big mistake. As soon as the cloth touched the wound, she flinched, got hold of my wrist, and leered at me with what I can only describe as killing intent.

"S-Sorry, I thought you knew it would hurt," I said, holding up my free hand. "I need to disinfect it before using the medicine. Otherwise the tissue will rot away, even if it somehow manages to close up." She hesitated, but must have seen that I was speaking the truth because she let go of my wrist and leaned back once more. I sighed in relief, glad to still have both of my hands, even if a bruise showed up on that wrist in the morning. As I continued cleaning, I thought that getting her mind busy would make her ignore the pain. "You said earlier that taguel wear armor, right? If that's the case, where's yours? I didn't see it laying around the cave."

"It was stolen," she claimed.

"Stolen?"

"Do you think I would misplace something that important to me?"

"I suppose not…" A dead end. I tried again. "Are you here all on your own?"

"Yes. I became separated from my warren long ago when we came to this area. I've searched for them, but haven't been able to track them down. I decided to stay, thinking they would come searching for me instead."

I couldn't help thinking that she might have been abandoned or worse. The way she talked about it, she made it seem like she got lost, but wouldn't they notice one of their own going missing? She mentioned before that she could smell my carrot soup even through the rain. With a sense of smell like that, I found it hard to believe that they couldn't find each other. Of course, I kept all these thoughts to myself. I didn't want to test whether the shape-shifting bunny liked meat or not.

"Why are you not with your family?" She asked me. Another surprising question coming from her. She'd already shown that family meant a lot to her, so I guess it made sense for her to ask about that.

I finished cleaning the wound as I thought about how best to answer while getting the vulnerary ready. Slowly rubbing the ointment on the wound, I told her about my own life. "Since I was a kid I always had a sense of wanderlust. I liked seeing new things and learning about them. I grew up in a remote village with few people, you see. I considered all of them my family and love them very much. But even when I was happy there, I always felt like seeing the world. When I grew older, I got it in me that I wanted to move to a city somewhere and open up my own store. Unfortunately, you can't do that without gold, which my family didn't have much of. That's when I decided to become a traveling merchant. I could satiate my wanderlust and collect the gold I needed to open up my own store. I've been traveling around for some time now. I try to visit my village whenever I can, but it usually is for a week or two every year." I finished my story at the same time that I finished bandaging her leg and set her ankle down on the ground.

"Don't you miss them?" Her voice sounded melancholic, almost as if she'd asked that to herself instead of me.

"Every day, especially when I'm traveling between towns. It can get lonely out there when you are out by yourself. It gives me a lot of time to think and reminisce about my childhood," I said, feeling the melancholy myself. "But it's not like I won't ever see them again, you know?"

She never answered. She kept looking at the ground with sorrowful eyes. It was heartbreaking. Despite everything, she too felt like her connection had been severed… I tried to think of something to cheer her up when I remembered the clothes I had brought up with me. I originally thought about changing into the clean outfit, but seeing as she was still in the nude and my cloak would dirty the bed, I offer it to her instead. It's is a beige shirt and trousers identical to my own. She tilts her head at me.

"You should change into these," I told her, pushing the clothes closer to her. "That cloak isn't the most comfortable to sleep on. Changing into a clean outfit before going to bed will do you some good. It'll keep the bandages from getting soiled too."

She tried to insist that she was okay with sleeping nude, but I immediately shot down that idea. No man would sleep comfortably in the same room with a woman sleeping in her birth suit. There's only so much self control that I can have. I kept pushing for her to wear the outfit, my cheeks flushing more every time as I tried to avoid spelling it out for her. She eventually gave in, thank the gods. I can't remember how many times we went in circles with that conversation! My only complaint would be that she changed right in front of me.

I told her she could have the bed, seeing as she was hurt. There was enough room on the bed for us to sleep side by side, but I decided that taking the couch was a better idea. As I laid down, I thought about everything that had happened during the day. My normal day took a turn for the bizarre and fantastical when I came across- I never asked her name… Wow… I think she's asleep now. I can hear her breathing from here.

She was awake. Turns out her name is Panne. Cute name. I said goodnight, but she just grunted at me. Maybe that's a human thing to do? Oh well.

Everything went better than expected. I feel tired… So much work to do tomorrow… I don't know what I'll do about Panne. Should I let her go back to the forest? It would be a weight off of my consciousness if she agreed to see a cleric tomorrow...

Panne… Isn't that what they call bread in Chon'sin? I'm not thinking straight anymore. I'm going to sleep.

—Robin


	2. 8th of the 1st month of Autumn

What a reception the first chapter got! Wow! I wasn't expecting that many people to get into this one, if I'm being honest. With the pairing being not super popular, this comes as a nice surprise. Thanks to all of you who reviewed, followed, favorite, and/or read the story. It means a lot.

Before you read this, I'm sorry if you find capitalization errors. I literally had to plug in an old keyboard to my tablet to type this one up because I have my desktop working on renders all day long. The downside is that the tablet won't recognize the shift key and Caps Lock at times or it does it with some lag.

As always, leave a review to let me know what you liked or disliked about the chapter. And if you really like the story, remember to follow and/or favorite! Enjoy~

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Day 8th of the 1st month of Autumn

"Was I drunk last night?"

That's the first thing that I asked myself when I woke up this morning to see a stranger sleeping on what was meant to be my bed. I know I didn't drink anything last night. I remember _bringing_ her (Panne) back here with me as well as the reason why. Those aren't the problem. The problem was that I _clearly_ hadn't thought things through. Damn past Robin doing stupid things for present me to solve… It doesn't happen often, but it still bothers me every time it does. And I know there's nothing I can do about it now because what's done is done.

I sat up on the couch with a hand rubbing the bridge of my nose as I looked over at the bed where Panne slept soundly. What was I supposed to do? I wanted to take her to get checked out by a cleric, but then I remembered how she was acting yesterday when we entered town. She was so nervous being around a handful of people. If it was bad then, going out during anytime from morning to late afternoon would be a bad idea. I thought about bringing someone to see her, but it would taint my good name… Then there's that little bit where I'd not asked what _she_ wanted to do. She came with me because she trusted me, for some reason. My guess was that she wouldn't be as cooperative if I told her I wanted someone else to check her injury.

I had a lot to process through and I needed her to be awake for that. I thought about waking her up, but then decided against it, remembering how she had clutched my wrist the night before. If she were to wake up in a foul mood because of me… It wouldn't end well. I let my go from her to the window to forget the mental image of my snapped fingers on the ground. Going from the light coming in through the window, it was early morning. Breakfast wasn't even being served yet.

Early morning are what I like to call "trader's rise". It's self explanatory, really, but just in case, I will explain. In places like Southtown, where there are many kiosks or where stores have some their products out on the street to attract customers, this is the time merchants will get things ready for the day to come. So when I noticed the lack of smell coming from the bottom level of the inn, I knew I could go out to find Jared, and then come back before breakfast was served and maybe before Panne woke up.

I put on my boots after giving them a light scrubbing to get rid of the mud. I use a comb to get my hair in a more presentable state, and then collect my scratched up (thanks again, Panne) satchel from where I left it the night before. I could see my cloak hanging off a peg on the wall. It's dirty. If I wore it like it was, it would do more harm than good, even if it looked chilly outside. Leaving it behind was for the best. I take one last look at the creature on my bed. I didn't want her panicking if she woke up and didn't see me, so I wrote a note for her and set it on the nightstand where I know she would see it before leaving the room, making sure to lock the room behind me.

Sure enough, it was chilly outside. The only way I could keep myself warm by constantly rubbing my arms. I keep spare clothes on my cart, but not a spare cloak. That's a luxury I can't afford. There was no breeze that morning, so I thought, _it could be worse_. It could have been worse. Had it rained I would have fallen on my knees and creamed up at the gods if they were making fun of me.

The smell of freshly baked bread was in the air, making my mouth water. The kiosks were opening one by one as I got closer to the center of town. Already the smithies were at work, hammering their ingots, and shaping them into whatever they were picturing on their minds. Some women walked passed me, early risers, likely looking to get whatever they needed to make breakfast for their families. The town was lively, even for a trader's rise. But this is Southtown I'm talking about. It is full of surprises.

I tried to keep focus and ignore anything that could catch my eye on the streets. I finally end up getting to Jared's, a small store in comparison to those seen in cities, but for Southtown, it is pretty big. He'd already put out a few barrels outside his door and had his "open" sign standing besides it. Glad to see that I hadn't missed him, I walk in, a small bell chiming as the door hits it. From under the counter pops the head of Jared, looking to see who his first customer of the day is. I waved at him, and he smiled and waved back.

"It's that time of the year already?" He stands up and dusts himself off. The man has a decade on me, as evident by his receding hairline. Still, he always tries to act younger. That morning was no exception. He cracked his knuckles as if he was getting ready for a fight, which, he technically was going to get. "You buying or selling?"

"Both, hopefully." I approached the counter and took out my vending journal and set it down. "I got something that you are interested in."

"Oh?" I kid you not, there was a glim on his eyes. He leaned on the counter, taking a closer look at me. "And what might that be?"

I let him wait for it a bit, hoping that it'll get him going because it's easier to barter with him when he is off like that. "Halite. Fifteen hundred pounds of it in bricks, just dug out of the Plegian mines."

He whistled, drumming his fingers on the counter. "That's a hell of a lot of salt! But how come you only got fifteen? Your cart could hold double that much."

"I didn't want to strain Clever that much. She works year-round. Can't have her getting injured." Let's make this clear, okay? I love Clever. She is my girl. She is the only horse I've ever owned and has helped me a lot through this years. I want her to be the _only_ horse I own as a peddler. She can pull three times her own weight, like any other horse, but I rather not put her through that, especially when we are on a long haul.

Jared dismissed my comment with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "Have it your way. But if you keep yourself from transporting large loads because of your horse, it'll take you two lifetimes to get yourself a decent store in any city. Maybe you could open up shop in some town instead. It'll be you and Clever, growing old-"

"Yeah, yeah, let me worry about that myself, thank you." I knew from experience that letting him go off on a tangent would let him get us back to even ground. "We can chat all you want once we have a deal. Now, I have three hundred bricks waiting at the Rabbit Crest Inn. They are just waiting for you to put them up for sale, pal." He looked hesitant, so pushed harder. "Look, we and I both know that Ylisse's supply is running low. Plegia stopped exporting to Ylisse this year, which means that the only way you'll see this much salt," I pointed at my journal to emphasize the point, "in one place is if someone bringing it. Most people won't bother with it because it's a hassle getting it across the border. But winter is around the corner. This much will fly off your shelves before the end of autumn, I guarantee it. You'll have every butcher in town coming to get it off your hands soon enough."

"Fair point." He stood straight as he mulled it over. I had the lure set. "How much were you thinking per brick?"

I kept my cool, but I had the biggest smile in my mind. I knew he would bite. "Demand is high, and supply is low," I try to trail off. "The price is can only go up from here. My guess is that you could sell it at two gold pieces per brick right now."

"I'm not going to pay you two gold for each one of those! Are you crazy?"

I raised my hand to calm him down. "I said _you_ could sell them for that much. I want you to have some profit for yourself, you know? For old time's sake. Sooo, hoooow aboooout…" I elongate my vowels to pretend that I'm thinking about it. I had already come up with a price before getting there, but this left me with more breathing room. "A gold and eight silvers a brick. You'll make two silver per brick, minimum. That's a pretty good deal."

"One and a half." He didn't think about it. He had the figure ready too. "Butchers will buy it in brick form, but most people want their salt grinded up. If I have to pay someone to break those down, I'll need a better price."

"You are low balling me and you know it," I deadpanned. "One-and-eight is a fair deal, Jared."

"Fine, one-and-six."

"You must be getting to that age where your ears don't work so good. I said one-and-eight. But look, we've been friends for some time, right? How about one-and-seven?"

I can go on and on about my methods of negotiation, especially when dealing with specific people, but I'll spare you the details. We kept going back and forth for an hour, each one of us countering the other's points. The moment I threatened to take my business elsewhere, he budged. I got one-and-seven per brick. If he had opened up my journal, he would have seen that I could go as low as one-and-five and _still_ turned out with a good profit from the deal, not that I would ever let him see it.

Jared was about to go to the back room to collect the gold, all five hundred and ten, juicy pieces, when I stopped him. "I rather try to trade with you before you get all those coins. I know you've been going out to the forest to collect herbs. How about we trade for that? I'll take them in bulk and pay you full price for them too, if you got enough and they are high quality."

"That's… a ton of them…" He thought it over. "I'll have to talk with a few people, but I can get them by this afternoon. Bring the cart around then. I'll have my boys help us unload everything."

I left the store feeling a lot better. I hadn't forgotten about the situation with the taguel waiting fro me back at the inn. That was stuck on my mind the entire time, but I was much more optimistic about it all after that. My main reason for being in town had gone better than I had predicted. If that was possible, convincing Panne to go see a cleric didn't seem that unlikely.

As I was walking down the street, I see that many more stores are now open, with the crowds starting to show up. I decided to stop by a few of them to see if anything would catch my eye. The third one I visit had a variety of footwear on display. I remembered that Panne would need shoes if we were to walk around town again. I was so happy about what happened with Jared that I decide that I'm feeling generous. Getting boots for someone that wasn't with me was a difficult task. I washed her feet the night before, so I vaguely knew what size would fit her. Unfortunately, the only way to test out the sizes was for me to run my hands over them and see if the shape _felt_ right. I didn't think Panne would like something with heels, so I chose a nice pair of leather boots for her. They had some wear on them, but the quality was good and the price was right, five silver coins. I stored them in my satchel.

Seeing the state of it, I think that I might as well get a new one for myself. I check out a kiosk that's on my way back. A gold piece later and I got what I need. But I don't stop there either. I thought that if I was getting Panne some boots and would give her my old satchel, I better get her a cloak of her own or she would keep mine. I got her a nice purple-colored, similar to my the one mine, wool cloak that would look too big on any other woman. Ironically, despite it's size, it was cheaper than smaller ones because it would fit drag on the floor if it was worn by an average woman.

I kept walking in hopes that I wouldn't spend any more of my gold on someone I didn't know much about. But then I remembered that the owners didn't know she had stayed with me last night… And I had locked her in the room before I left too. She would be mad and hungry. _Mostly mad,_ I thought. She had mentioned that she could change into a rabbit, so, obviously, I would get her vegetables.

The stalls were full of people selling their harvest. I could see a lot apples, lemons, wheat, and more. I stopped at the stall of the weirdest kid I've seen. He was wearing a pot over his head. I'm not sure why. I _didn't_ want to know why. I haggled with him to get a sack of carrots and two heads of cabbage, thinking that whatever Panne didn't eat I could put on the cart for another time or maybe feed to Clever.

I got back to the inn without spending another copper. The smell of bacon, eggs, and biscuits filled my nostrils, making my stomach growl for nourishment. I felt the temptation of going over to where the owners would be serving breakfast, but I didn't want to make Panne wait more than I already had. I went up the stairs slowly, my head still pointing in the direction of the dining area. All I had to do was head upstairs, give Panne the stuff, then I could head back down, grab a plate for myself, and take it with me back to my room. That was the plan.

The plan didn't go as expected. As soon as I opened the door to my room, I knew something was off. I stopped there, looking into the room. The bed had been made. On the dresser I could see two clean towels on the same spot I had left the two soiled ones yesterday. The water buckets by the door were also clean… And to my right, on the couch, two figures sat, looking at me.

"Good morning, Robin," said the older woman, smiling at me as she always did. "You took an awful long time to get back. Panne couldn't stop worrying about you."

I shifted my eyes towards the other figure that was sitting on the couch. Panne was sitting with both of her hands on her lap, looking at me with some relief. She looked completely different from when I last saw her. Instead of my loose trousers and shirt, she was wearing a sleeveless dress that reached down to just below her knees. She wore two wooden rings at the base of her rabbit ears, two long braids coming out of them. Her ears were hidden in plain sight in the braids. They looked more like some strange accessory than ears. The last change was that she was wearing my cloak again… And it looked clean.

"It's not nice to stare, dear." The owner chuckled to herself. Panne said nothing. I was confused. So confused in fact that I was tempted to leave the inn and come back in to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. "I heard you leaving this morning. I wanted to switch the water buckets for clean ones. When I came in, I saw this poor thing here, all by herself, looking terrified."

I wasn't sure what to say.

I felt someone bump my back. I took a step forward to take a look behind me. It was grandpa, holding a few plates of food on his arms.. "Good for you, kiddo. I didn't know you had it in you to sneak in a woman to your room in the middle of the night without anyone noticing." It shouldn't have surprised me that he would say something like that, but my cheeks still flushed. I tried to get a word out, but my voice wasn't cooperating. In the end, I walked over to the bed and plopped down with my arms spread, letting everything I was carrying to fall to my feet.

I could hear grandpa laughing as he walked in. I followed him with my eyes, not bothering to move. I walked towards his wife first and handed her one of the plates. He did the same for Panne, who took it carefully, but didn't look too concerned with what she'd been given. Then he came over to me, but seeing as I wasn't going to take it, he left it on the floor for me before heading back to the couch and sitting next to his wife, on the far end of the couch.

"I'm only being half serious there, Robin. No need to feel down about it. It took some times, but Panne explained the situation. I was a little disappointed to see that she wasn't really your wife, but oh well."

"She explained everything…?" I sat up, looking towards Panne. I was surprised that she'd done so. She was the one that had said she didn't trust humans.

"You said they were good people," she said. "I didn't trust them at first, but when they explained who they were, I felt more comfortable." That girl is too trusting of everything I say… I wonder what I did to deserve that trust.

"It was a pleasant surprise to see you had brought a taguel with you. We didn't name this hotel "Rabbit Crest Inn" for nothing," said grandma.

I raised an eyebrow at her statement. "You've met taguel before?"

"There used to be many of them around here before. They kept to themselves, rarely leaving the forests." Grandpa took a bite out of a stick of bacon, letting his words sink in. "I got lost in the forest once during a misty day. Fell off and broke my ankle. I was stuck there for two days before one of them found me. They helped me return to town. After that my wife and I would go to the woods and leave them carrots as a way of saying thanks."

Panne almost dropped her plate as she turned to look at grandpa. "Do you know what happened to them? These taguel you speak of, they could be part of my warren!" I could hear hope in her. Somehow, I didn't think she should feel that way…

Grandma shook her head, a sorrowful look replacing her usually cheerful smile. "They all left, sweety… They were...chased away. During the last war against Plegia, some of the local lords took it upon themselves to "cleanse" our lands. At first they took only the Grimleal. But then, for one reason or another, they started sending troops to hunt down taguel…"

The idea that anyone would be hunted down because of being a taguel disgusted me. It still does. I will never understand what makes some people think they are above other races. even manaketes, who are closer to gods than us humans, are treated like crap at times.

"I know that a few of them survived," said grandpa. "They avoided detection and left as the war was coming to a close. Last I saw of them, they were heading north… But I wouldn't hold my hopes up, kiddo. A decade has already passed. If that group I saw _was_ your warren and they survived all this time, locating them will be a monumental task. "North" is a broad area to search. They could be anywhere from here to the very north of Ferox."

"I will find them." I looked over at Panne. Instead of taking everything that she'd heard and become depressed, it felt like she had found something to fight for. She looked determined to go out there and find her family again… The same family that might have abandoned her. "I can't give up without trying. even if it takes me the rest of my life… And with his help, I know I can do it."

The three of them looked over at me. I couldn't remember ever saying anything about helping her on any quest! I wasn't an adventurer! "Huh?"

"How nice of you, Robin. You must have taking a real liking to her if you are willing to go that far. How sweet." Grandma gave me a smile that made me feel guilty to say no.

"Why do you want me to help you?" I had to ask. I furrowed my brow the more i thought about it. For a moment I thought that she wanted to use me for my gold, but I couldn't remember talking about that.

It came down to something simple. Something that I don't understand at all. "You smell familiar."

"That's your reasoning?!" I didn't know if I should feel insulted that my only redeeming quality was that I smelled nice, or flattered because, hey! I smell nice!

"You are also a good person?" I didn't like how she phrased it as a question.

"If you plan on doing this, you must remember not to let anyone see your taguel features, Panne." Grandma placed a hand on the taguel's lap to get her attention. "There are people out there that may still be in the lookout for taguel. You have to be careful."

I asked if that was the reason why she had hidden Panne's ears in braids. She nodded. "Well, there is that. I think she looks very pretty like this, don't you think?" She winked at me. I responded with a grunt. "I also gave her one of my old dresses. She wasn't fond of your trousers because they were restrictive to her tail. She wanted to keep your shirt, saying something about it's smell, but she can't go around walking without trousers. Everyone would be looking at her. A dress is a nice good for her. It's more feminine and it doesn't constrain her little tail. She is very tall though. It won't cover her legs all the way. And all my shoes are too small to fit her…"

Remembering all the shopping I had done that morning, I picked up my satchel and emptied it out on the bed. I took the boots, taking one last look at them to see if I had gotten the right ones, before handing them over at a confused Panne. I explained to her all about how she shouldn't walk around town without shoes on and, seeing as I was the one that put her in a position where she would need to do so, I felt it was only right I got her the boots. OF course, this got me more teasing from the gramps.

I was expecting her to struggle putting them on, but I was surprised to see that she was used to doing so. Perhaps part of her armor were some type of boots? The sight of her made me chuckle. It was a strange combination she had on, with the dress, my cloak, and those boots on. Not that I would say that to her face.

She kept her eyes on the boots as she wiggled her toes. "I don't like these. I can't get a feel of the ground with these on. I don't know how you humans can wear these sorts of things."

I told her that she would grow used to it. It wasn't like she would have the wear them all the time. If she wasn't in town or if she was in the inn she could be barefooted. It did little to appease her, though. I had to remind her that she was supposed to look human around others if she wanted to go unnoticed.

I took this as an opportunity to grab the plate that grandpa had left by me. Everything tasted as good as it smelled. I noticed that Panne was staring at me all the while I ate. It's gives a strange feeling, eating while someone stares at you. It is uncomfortable. "Is something wrong?"

"I can't believe you can eat that without gagging." Her face contorted to one of disgust.

"Oh! I forgot taguel don't are herbivores," said grandpa.

Luckily, I was also prepared for that. I set my plate down for a moment. "I thought something like this would happen, so I got something for you on the market." I took out a couple of carrots from the sack and one of the cabbage heads, handing them over to her. she looked a lot more pleased with that for a meal than the nicely cooked food on her plate.

Here is something I learned about Panne. She _wolfs_ down the food she gets. I hadn't seen her eating my leftovers yesterday, so I hadn't known she would do it like that. Every time the carrot would scrunch when she bit it, I would imagine it being my finger in it's place, the bone cracking and- I still get shivers.

Thankfully, a conversation got going that distracted me. I talked about what I had been up to earlier that morning and how I would have to visit Jared again later to make a trade. I also said that I wanted to take Panne to get her leg checked by a cleric. Panne didn't react to me mentioning it. She was too busy enjoying her "meal".

The owners left after we finished eating. It couldn't be helped. They had things to take care of other than look after what Panne and I did. That left only us in the room. I can't speak for her, but I felt incredibly awkward. I kept rubbing the back of my neck to think of something to say. She said nothing. She just stared at me.

"How about seeing a healer now?"

She wasn't amused. She frowned at me. "I told you I don't trust humans."

When she says that to a human, her argument doesn't sound convincing at all. "Me excluded, right? But then, you had no problem talking with the owners earlier. You said it was because I told you they were good people. Going by that logic, if I said that the cleric we are meeting is also a good person, will you consider it?"

She took a moment to respond. I'm sure she saw a flaw in her way of thinking, because I her frown disappeared. "You have a point. Then, if you trust this cleric you keep talking about, I will meet with them…"

I didn't know the cleric in Southtown, actually. People often say that gods don't like it when you lie about something close to them. A cleric of the church would be something close to them. So, would I be doing something bad for tricking Panne like that? I did it to make sure she was healthy, but with gods, you never know until you meet with them in the afterlife.

Not like it mattered to me at the time. I had the second confidence boost of the day! We both stood up to leave, but when I go for my bag, I saw that there were a couple of other things I had gotten for her. I grabbed the cloak and showed it to her. "I also got this. I thought you would like it."

She stared at it for a moment before she nodded. "It has a good color on it. I'm sure it suits you well."

I didn't know what to say to that. It's a compliment, yes, but it was meant to be for her! I want my cloak back! There were still things to do, so I ended up putting on the new cloak instead, glad that it didn't have any fancy embroidement. I did give her my old satchel after I'd packed all my things on my new one. I put a couple of carrots on hers, in case she got hungry again. That one she accepted. I think she did it because of the carrots, not because she wanted the bag… Whatever… Before we left I pulled her hood up as an extra precaution. It would hopefully help her ears go unnoticed even more as well as distract people from the markings she had on her forehead and cheeks.

We were out the door for no longer than a minute when I started noticing the change in her behavior. Like the night before, she started by getting closer to me the more we walked. The crowds were unsettling her. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said that we came across more people on a single street than on the whole town last night. It wasn't long before she had me by the arm. I had to pretend to be okay with it. I still have the marks where her fingers were digging in. I don't think she knows how to controls her own strength.

It only got worse for me the closer we got to the center of town. I came up with a simple solution. If I could get her to focus on me, then she wouldn't be as nervous. I didn't think that talking about the market would be a good idea since she would look around more, so I kept it simple. I asked about her people, making sure to be vague when referring to the taguel. It worked beautifully! Not only did she calm down, but I learned a thing or two about taguel as well, like how she uses a Beaststone to transform, and how they live in large interconnected mud huts.

She didn't even notice that we had arrived at the church until I told her we were there. The stained-glass windows depicting scenes of the battles of the Hero-King and others of Naga caught her attention. She was looking left and right, a small gleam in her eyes as she did. She reminded me of myself when I first came to the church a few years ago. You don't have to be particularly religious to see the beauty in the architecture and the attention to detail that went into the building.

The head priest came out of the back and greeted us. I explained to him that my wife (it was easier to call her that to avoid answering too many questions) had been injured on a hiking trip and I was hoping someone could take a look at her. He directed us to a different room than the one he had come for and asked us to wait while he went and fetched one of the clerics.

"What did you mean when you called me your wife before?" The question came after we'd spent a few minute in silence.

I tried to explain to her that I knew the head priest of the church. That man has always been anal about how couples that are not married should be out by themselves, kiss, and what not. I'd seen him giving sermons to younger couples before about it, telling them about the sanctity of marriage. I wasn't looking to spend my free time being lectured about something so silly, so I had just gone with it.

Panne stared at me. I couldn't tell if she got it all from the way she was looking at me. "I see. But what does being someone's wife entail? I've heard the word before, but I don't understand its significance."

"You don't use that word in your warren?" she shook her head. "Well, a woman become a wife when she marries a man, who in turn become a husband. Marriage is… You could call it a declaration that a couple in love make to the world to vow their lives and eternal love to one another."

She frowned. "And you think you and I have this kind of bond?"

"No… That's why I said before that I called you that only because it would make things easier." One of the clerics, a young, blonde, woman entered the room, cutting our discussion short.

She examined Panne's cut thoroughly, making notes on a chart she brought with her. She also asked questions. A lot of them. I let Panne answer all the ones related to her health, but I had to step in when it came to how she got injured. I also explained that I had treated the wound, but wanted someone more capable to take a look. I got complimented on my bandaging. That was nice, even she was saying it only to be nice.

The girl used a couple of different ointments on the cut, and finished it all off by using her staff to heal the wound. she handed me three different medicines as well as some bandages in case Panne got sick or we needed them in the future.

When I say "give" I really mean she burdened me with it. Not because I can't be asked to look after Panne, but because I know how the clerics at churches work. They don't give away medicine to people that don't need it urgently. There is an unwritten rules about these things, see? Seeing a cleric and getting treatment in the church is free, _but_ you have to make a donation… Can you call that free? It's a trick. For medicines you have to pay double their normal price. That quickly adds up. But the coin goes to a good cause, since they use that gold to maintain the building, buy supplies, and keep the orphanage running. Still, I had to donate two gold coins for it all. That's a lot for a simple injury like a cut. But I had dug my own grave when I played the part of the husband. what kind of husband wouldn't give a fortune for the well being of his wife?

I couldn't help but think that my friendship with Panne had been completely one-sided since we met, all things considered. I let out a loooong sigh as I put all the the medicine into her satchel. I just met her, and there I was, buying her clothes, food, and medicine. We might as well be already married! Now that's a funny thought!

We headed directly back to the inn after our business was done at the church. Despite not having done all that much, the day was going by fast. The sun was coming down, which meant that I would need to get my cart ready to go back to Jared's. I thought that Panne would stay behind and relax in the room until I came back, but she insisted on going with me. I guess it made sense. I mean, there was literally nothing for her to do in the room by herself except sleep. Still, I tried to persuade her from coming with me because I knew Jared would be asking questions about her and tease me like the inn owners had done earlier. In the end, I gave in.

Of the four stalls for horses that the barn had, three were taken. The owners don't have any horses, so I knew that the other two would be from other guests. I know better than trying to disturb someone else's horse, so I headed directly for Clever's stall. I greeted her like I normally do and she nods her head in response. There was a brush on the stall and, since I had some time to kill, I decided I would give her a good brushing. She is pleased with it, as she keeps bumping her head against me in an affectional way. That always makes me laugh. It's easy to be intimidated by large animals, but if you think about it, they are just like another human being. I mean, they have their own personalities and quirks that makes them unique. In Clever's case, she likes being pampered. Whenever I see a kid that is scared of her, I always tell them that to make them be less wary of her. And if that doesn't work, I give her a few kisses on the side of the head. That gets a few laughs from people, but gets the idea across.

The reason I mention this is because while I was doing so, I heard Panne chuckling from behind us. I turned to look at her, still brushing Clever and asked her what she was laughing at.

"She likes it when you do that," she said, which made me raise an eyebrow. "The kisses. She likes it when you give her a kiss."

Turns out, taguel can speak with animals and _understand_ what the responses are. I don't see why I was surprised by it back then. It makes sense that they could do that much if they can transform into bunnies. Still, it's one more things that I've learned about taguel. They are very fascinating creatures, though it makes me feel weird to think of Panne as a creature because of its negative connotation.

She was nice enough to help me finish brushing clever. She even helped me getting the cart ready for transport. Though I had to walk her through it all the way, she learned pretty fast. I knew that she would be experiencing many first's during the time we spent together, however long that might be, but I wasn't expecting her to learn fast.

She did complain the moment she saw me get on the cart, saying that I was being cruel to the horse for having it pull all that weight. I had to explain to her that a horse could pull up to three times it's own weight to get her to stop leering at me, but it was Clever herself who was finally able to calm her down. Finally, Panne joined me on the cart, though she had a scowl and her arms crossed.

I think she liked riding on the cart around town better than walking. She didn't seem as nervous, nor did she clutch my arm. She actually just grabbed my sleeve in a loose grip, which I was thankful because my arm needed some time to heal. I think that the small height different from being on top of the cart helped her relax. She was still fidgeting a little, but that might be because she wasn't convinced about having Clever pulling all the weight of the cart.

Overall, it was a nice, relaxing trip to Jared's, even if Panne didn't so much as a squeak. I got off and helped Panne down, as ridiculous as it is for me to do so with how tall she is. We headed to a side door on the building and rang a bell that hung there. Most merchants have a second door to their store like this that they can use to move merchandise without having to go through the front of their store. These tend to be bigger to accommodate for large crates or rolling barrels in and out.

We didn't wait long for Jared to come out, followed by his two kids, a eight year old boy, and a ten year old girl, if I remember their ages correctly. While the kids laid out a tarp on the ground for us to put the brick on, I noticed Jared looking over at Panne. I already knew what he wanted to ask, so when he did, I had an answer ready. I told him that we should get things done first and let her be, seeing as she was a reserved person. He wasn't too convinced about it, but it got him off my back for some time.

Unloading three hundred bricks is not a fun task. No one can argue that it's not easy, but it's also very dull and repetitive. It also does a number on your back and your arms. The kids moved a brick at a time, but they didn't complain. They were having their fun. I could tell because they were smiling and laughing as they ran back and forth between the tarp and my cart. As for me and the older merchant, well, we could carry four or more, but we weren't as cheerful about it. I removed my cloak halfway through because of how hot I felt with in on. I was breaking a sweat. Not the best for a cold day like that one. I placed it on the seats and forgot about it until I saw Panne walking over to it and giving it a whiff or two. She was lucky that I was the only one that caught it. That woman, I tell you. She needs to be more conscious of her surroundings! I'm sure that the heat I felt on my cheeks was because of hard work, not because of that. Not. At. All.

By the time everything was off the cart, I moved at least four times my own weight in halite. It was exhausting work and I was glad it was done. We decided we would take a little break before moving the herbs. I wanted to take a look at the product too, so I had him show me the were five of them in total, each one weighing no more than twenty pounds. All crates were opened and I gave them a quick inspection. They looked good to me. To Panne, who had a lot more knowledge about this things, they did not. I was talking with Jared when she walked to me holding some of the herbs. We both turned to look at her, not sure if anything was wrong.

There was.

"Half of these were cut too early. They aren't as good as the ones on top."

I was left speechless, partially because I wasn't sure if what she was saying was true, and partially because I noticed the look of shock the Jared gave her. It's common for peddlers to try swindling merchants that don't know better, but for merchants to try that on one of us? That doesn't happen every day. That was the first time one of the merchants I frequent had ever tried that, so I was skeptical about Panne's claim. I had her show me what she meant. We walked over to the crates and showed me that there was a slight difference in the color of the stems of the high quality ones that were on top than those that were at the bottom of the crates. She also said something about them not _smelling_ ready to use, which was more than enough evidence than I needed. I already knew about how strong her nose was from the short time I had known her. There was no doubt in my mind that what she was saying was true.

I turned to face Jared, who looked back at me astonished. He tried to laugh it off first, saying that there was no way that was true, but when Panne insisted it was and glared at him with piercing eyes, he tried to change tactics. He nudged me with his elbow and said, "we've known each other for a long time, haven't we Robin? Can you honestly tell me that you think I would pull something like that over you? Who is this woman anyways? It's the first I see of her."

A little reminder. I had told Panne earlier that I called her a certain way to avoid having someone ask more questions, right? That had worked then. It _wasn't_ going to do any good now. Why she thought it would, I don't know, but at the time, I didn't think she would say it so I didn't bother to stop her.

"I'm his wife," she says.

The confidence with which she said it! Gods… It would make anyone else feel stupid for asking or not having noticed before. It would also make someone want to ask questions. A _lot_ of questions.

I had to do damage control to get the conversation back on track. He was trying to distract me by feeling embarrassed about "finally finding a woman". It's a tactic that anyone would see through. I brought up the herbs again, shoving some towards his belly. "You _know_ that if they are not high quality _and_ if they haven't matured, the Feroxi won't take them anywhere near market value," I told him. " If half of them won't do, I would get three-twenty for all five crates, three thirty tops. And that's with the inflated market over there. Here, it gets worse…"

But he doesn't budge, insisting that there must be some kind of mistake. Panne shakes her head, standing by her word. In cases like that, there is only one thing that I could do if I didn't want to load the bricks again all by myself. I hold his credibility hostage. For local merchants, having a good name is all that matters. If a rumor about him trying to scam a supplier spread around, it could ruin him. And to a man that has a family to feed, _that_ is his weakness.

I told him that I would take the five crates from him, for appearance's sake, but he would have to cut the price substantially. He went for it, not that he had any choice. That left the matter of the rest of the salt bricks that I would have to load back on my cart. Jared still wanted them, saying that if he didn't have all of them, he would go in the red, which gave me the upper hand again. I had seen something on his store that morning that had caught my eye, something that I could unload further north. Black pepper. Lots of it.

I told him that if he wanted to keep my mouth shut, he would have to give me a crate full of it, which would weigh in at around fifteen pounds and, if sold in a city with enough demand, could sell for two gold coins per pound, minimum. This may seem harsh, because if you are good with math, you can tell that I jumped my price to by a fifth, but I was being nice enough to leave him with some room for profit if he could sell all the salt by winter.

Panne and I left once all the crates were loaded. I didn't say anything until we were a fair distance away, but when we were, I let out a loud breath, chucking by the end of it. I was smiling as wide as if I had just proposed to the love of my life and she said yes.

"I could kiss you right now," I tell Panne offhandedly.

She jerked back in response, looking at me with suspicion. "...Kiss...?"

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to alarm you," I quickly backtrack. "It's more like a saying, of sorts, hehe… I shouldn't be surprised that you got turned off by that. You helped me a lot back there. Had you not spotted that, I would have been lucky if I had broken even. That would be more than a month's work for nothing."

She relaxed a bit, but there was something strange about the way she looked at me too. I can't quite put my finger on it. At the time, I didn't think anything of it, being too busy guiding Clever and all. "You are helping me look for my warren. It is the least I can do."

 _Oh...right… That whole deal_ …

I don't know if she intended it at the time, but she caught me between a sword, or claws in her case, and a hard place. I suppose that I'm going north anyways, as such, I wouldn't be taking a detour from my original plan. I don't think she knows where to look for her warren other than "north". As long as we keep heading in that direction, she would be fine, right?

I could ask her if she has any leads that could give us a better direction or if she can, I don't know, sniff them out? I could ask her, but she's sleeping right now. I'm not all that tired, but I'll head to bed too. Tomorrow will be a long day. We are setting off for Ylisstol in the morning. I'll sell the pepper there and see if I can get something else to take to Ferox.

Maybe we can find something there to help look for Panne's family? Sounds like a long shot to me, but you never know. If you want to find something in Ylisse, be it goods, people, or information, Ylisstol is the place to go.

I just hope that we can avoid the crowds while we are there… I can't imagine what she will do to my arm with that many people around. I should buy some armor…

—Robin

* * *

And now we are ready to leave Southtown! Yay!(?)

I left myself some room with this one on something I haven't decided yet. Do I want this to take place at the same time as the war with Plegia? Before? After? I'm leaning a lot more on before, which is why I avoided touching on that subject for these two chapters.

You'll notice too that I tried to avoid giving names to other characters as much as possible. That was just to avoid confusion on who is who. I needed to distinguish between the owner, hence why I called them Grandpa and Grandma. It also helps keep the focus on Robin and Panne. If there are characters (OCs) in the future that will show up for more than a couple of chapters, then I'll give them names. For now, I'll keep it simple until I reach the point of making a small arc.

On to reviews!~

 **The Other Guy** -Thank you very much! I hope you liked this chapter as much as the first one.

 **Teh Esprite** -Yessss, Anna's will be showing up. They _have_ to show up. I have a couple of ideas for them that I really want to include sometime in the future. As for other characters, I want to include them, but I have to think of good ways to do so. I let Donnel make a small cameo, but I want to include others a bit more in the future.

 **EVmeatdrummer98** -I feel like they had such good chemistry in the game. It's sad to see that a lot of stories on here of this pairing don't go for more than a couple of chapters. They really do deserve more love. And thanks, haha! Good to see someone will be looking out for this in the future :P

 **potatoman098** -This is the fic that FanFiction _deserves_ , but not- Sorry, I got reminded of Batman when I read that first sentence on your review. Glad you approve of my AU. As for Chrom, I thought about it while writing the first chapter and this one too. Like I said up there, I'm not completely decided on what I'll be doing in. He would show up at some other point if I don't show him on the next chapter, so at least there is no worry about that. I just need to think of this story in the long term, as well as how long I want it to go for. Honestly, it is kinda fun to switch between the stories. It's because the styles are so different that I can keep writing. It helps a lot to break through writer's block, haha.

 **Darkforce11** -Oh, you have no idea. Things will change a ton as the chapters go on. All I can hope for is that I can keep things from getting too muddy/messy. I know people won't be as excited when I get into economics like I did this chapter, but you can't have Robin be a peddler— _just_ a peddler—and not talk about that stuff. Still, hope you enjoyed this one, all things considered.

 **Muggzy** -A less cynical and more trusting (towards Robin) version of Panne is an interesting change of pace for me. Finding the right balance between her personality in the game and one built on her history on this story is a good challenge. Keeps me on my toes. Anyways, thanks! It's always nice to see you stopping by and leaving a review on my stories.

 **Darkolf** -Same here. That's why I decided to write this one down instead of vanishing to the paper bin in my brain. I think it's nice when you see a character taking a different role. Can be a lot of fun to write and to read. I think this was my pairing for my second or third playthrough. I never bother to look up supports unless I have to, so when I saw discovered this one, I fell in love with the pairing. And thanks a lot! Also, thank you for taking your time to read it!

 **animeandgamerlover2** -Hahaha, oh you! I'm glad you liked it! Nice to see you checking out some of my other work :P By the way, for some reason you are the only person on here that I don't get an email when you leave a review. It's really strange. Thank the internet gods that the review system got fixed without the reviews getting lost when it broke, cus I would feel bad if I answered to everyone else but left you out.

 **EquinoxWolf** -See? When I read your review, I face palmed for having missed such a big detail. But to quote Bob Ross, this is a happy little accident. I'm not joking either. Knowing that now, it is the perfect foundation for something in the future. Nothing too important, just a small gag, but good to have in stock just the same. So thanks for that!


	3. 11th(?) of the 1st month of Autumn

Day 11th(?) of the 1st month of Autumn

Since the day we set off, I hadn't had much of a chance to write at all other than smaller notes to remind myself to write about them on here when I had a chance. When traveling alone, finding time to write is no problem at all. Even after taking care of Clever and preparing a meal for myself, eating, and cleaning up, I normally have more than enough time to write about whatever I happened that day, though there were often days when there wasn't much to comment about. These past few days, on the other hand, are the complete opposite. Too much happening too often and no "me" time to write about it… I got to say, the company is nice and all, but…

I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's go back to the day after my last entry, for continuity's sake.

The morning had been pretty good. I had the chance to sleep in for a bit, seeing as how there was no need for me to get anything else ready for departure other than the usual. I'd made sure to get the cart ready and packed all the supplies that I'd bought the night before. That only left me with securing the cart onto Clever and we would be ready to go.

Once again, Panne, the owners, and I had breakfast in my room. This time the owners were nice enough to bring Panne something more to her taste, which she seemed to be grateful. Though she didn't thank them, it was obvious that she appreciated it just from watching her. Not that the owners were the kind of people that would call her out for not thanking them. I think their experience with taguel may have a hand in this.

Talking with them about what my plans were was nothing new to me. It's become a familiar routine for us whenever I come by. I don't mind sharing with them either. I mean, it's not like I use some sort of secret route to go to Ylisstol from Southtown or I'm doing shady business that would require me to silence anyone who hears about it. The reason I bring this up is because they inevitably asked about what we (Panne and I) would be doing regarding the search for her warren.

I explained that because I had to make the stop at Ylisstol anyways, we could ask around for any rumors regarding the taguel and whatnot. And once we were ready we would head out to either Regna Ferox or wherever the rumors would take us, whichever was closer. Grandma, being the worrywart that she is, cautioned us to be careful in and around Ylisstol, and to make sure to keep Panne's identity hidden as a precaution.

After our meal and conversation was done, Grandpa was helping me get everything ready on the barn while Grandma headed back to her room to get something for us. When she got back, she handed me a bag of some more old clothes for Panne, saying that if she were to wear the same thing every day, it could rouse suspicion if stayed for longer than a few days in a single place. It was a nice thought, so I didn't argue against her. Besides, the change of clothes would come in handy if it rained or if the ones she was wearing needed to be washed. With a final "until next time" and a promise to send them letters to update them on our progress, Panne and I got on the cart and departed the Rabbit Crest.

It looked like things were going to go smoothly from there on, but that was only hopeful thinking on my part… We were on the main road out heading out of town when I started noticing from a distance some carts backed up for some distance. This is not an uncommon sight in busy towns like Southtown, especially on smaller streets. Most of the time backups are caused by someone's cart or wagon breaking and axel on the road. I didn't think much about it. It would cost us some time, yes, but some minutes to an hour wouldn't affect our schedule in the long run. I sat there in silence, hunched over, my head on my right palm and the reigns on my left, looking ahead with a bored expression. Panne was surprisingly calm about the whole ordeal. There wasn't much of a reason for her _not_ to be calm, but it still surprised me a little. It was as if she was quickly adapting to the idea of being around humans, which was a good sign, given what our next destination was.

"There is a problem on the road to Ylisstol." Her words came without warning, bringing me back to reality. I was confused about how she would know that until I saw the top her hood moving lightly. With the both of us being so quiet, I think she was looking for something to distract herself with, and because we had talked about Ylisstol that morning, I think the name stuck in her mind. "I can hear the guards questioning the people that are coming in and out of town."

I straightened up my back and stood up to take a better look for myself. Sure enough, at the edge of town, there were a couple of knights, dressed in plate armor, talking with everyone. "It's a checkpoint… What a pain…"

From the way Panne looked at me, I could tell that the word didn't hold any significance to her. That's obvious, if put like that. If she had spent her whole life at the outskirts of town, but never once entering it, then there was no reason for her to know about this sort of things. It's more of a human thing, I guess. From the little I know about taguel society, they don't sound like the sort of people that need to worry about those sorts of things.

"They must be warning people about the problem you heard about," I explained. "Though, if that is the only thing they're doing then we wouldn't be going so slowly. They have to be looking for smugglers or something. And seeing as it's knights that came, my guess is that it's either contraband or something important to some royal. When we get there, try not to look too nervous or they'll think we are hiding something. Relax and follow my lead."

The line advanced slowly, but we eventually reached the very front. Like I had told Panne, there were two knight waiting for us there—a man in green armor and a woman in red, both carrying spears with them.

The man seemed overly cheerful while his partner looked more like she would rather be anywhere other than stuck doing the work of a town's guard. Who could blame her? Years of training to get the title of knight only to be stuck doing the work any other foot soldier could? Sounds like a pain, if you ask me. I felt sorry for her, but there really wasn't anything I could do other than cause as little trouble as I could.

We were asked to get off the cart while they checked it out, or rather, while the red head checked it out while the cheerful guy kept an eye on us by doing small talk. It wasn't all that bad, but I could feel Panne becoming more nervous by the second. She had every right to be. We didn't know what they were searching for. For all we knew, someone had spotted her and told those people about her whereabouts. I may not be a fighter, but I'll admit that in that moment, I wished I had that fire tome on me.

The guy didn't look like the type to go out hunting for taguel, not that I would know what a taguel-hunter would actually look like. He was very friendly. You could say he was _overly_ friendly. He even complimented my cargo, saying that his brother would love to have all those herbs (apparently his family runs an apothecary). I took it as a joke, but he gave me the address of it, in case I was willing to sell. All in all, it could have been worse. I was pretty happy about it. Though I wouldn't get as much gold for it in Ylisse as in Ferox, it could mean a quick profit. Or I could trade it all for finished vulneraries, cutting the load and opening up space for anything else I might want to take past the border. In other words, more coin for me if I put in the effort.

He also asked the questions you would expect at a checkpoint, like hinting at contraband and whatnot. I answered honestly, which got me a lot of points, I think. The guy also tried talking with Panne, but she would only nod or shake her head at him, giving short answers at most. I had to cover for her by saying that she was shy around strangers.

After we were cleared, we didn't waste any more time and simply got right on the cart and left town. It was almost noon by then. We were supposed to be long ways out, but this sudden stop had taken longer than I had anticipated and meant we wouldn't get as far as I would've liked that first day. Now that I think about it, I was so focused on them not finding out about Panne and getting everything done with as soon as possible that I didn't think about asking what the checkpoint was all about. Though I was asked about contraband and what not, the woman didn't check for hidden compartments like they normally would. That meant that either she wasn't experienced with that kind of work (wouldn't be surprised if that was the case) or they were looking for something else. I decided to dismiss the thought, given that it wasn't our problem anymore.

I was able to relax once we were a mile out—my back aching from the earlier stiffness. Not the best start, but we were both unhurt. That was a victory for us, I would say. I smiled at Panne and told her not to worry too much for checkpoints in the near future. They aren't that common. The chances of us running into another one would be similar to the (in)famous Duke of Rosanne getting hitched. Close to null.

With Southtown far behind us, I noticed that Panne was smiling as she looked around slowly. She was much more relaxed—maybe even excited—than any time since we met. It was a pleasant change. This would be her first time leaving her birthplace(?), so I think she trying to take in all the new things she was seeing… If there were any. I don't claim to be an expert in flora and fauna of Ylisse, but with that nose of hers, I'm sure she could tell that there were a lot of different things in that area than in the forest outside of Southtown than I ever could.

With no one else around but me, I think she was finally able to stop worrying so much about being seen too. But at the same time, that smile looked bittersweet and familiar to me. I know because I had a similar expression when I first left home behind. It doesn't matter if you are the one that decided to leave home; thinking it and doing it are completely different things. I think she was a bit afraid to leave. What's more, questions like "what if they come back while I'm gone?", "what if I can never see home again?", and "what if I don't find them?" were probably racing through her mind. That's something that is unique to her situation. No matter what happens, I know that I can always go back to Valm and to my family and friends. Panne does not have that luxury. She could return to the forest outside the town, but she would go back to being alone…

There have been very few times I can remember when I've felt helpless to that point. Reassuring her that everything would be fine was the right thing to do, right? It would put her at ease and, just maybe, reassure her that they could find her warren. But I don't like giving people false hope when _I'm_ not convinced what the future holds for them. As we stood (or sat if you want to be technical) we only had a very vague clue as to where we should go, and it could even be leading us in the opposite direction. After all, a rumor is not a fact.

Keeping one hand on the reins as I moved my other one towards her, I did the only thing I could do at the time. I pulled her hood down.

"No one can see you in these parts except for me and Clever. You'll be fine," I told her, trying to make it sound as offhandedly as possible, even if I _did_ give it a lot of thought. "You can also take off those boots if you want. You told me before that you like feeling the dirt under your feet, no? I know a wooden plank is not the same, but it's better than nothing."

"But what if someone sees me from afar?" She looked hesitantly at me, though her voice didn't waver. I think she was genuinely curious _and_ concerned.

"From here on out there is nothing but vast, empty plains between us and Ylisstol. If there is anyone around, we'll spot them from a distance. Or rather, _you_ will with those ears and nose of yours, I'm sure. You will have enough time to pull it back up. The braids are still covering most of your ears too. From a distance no one will notice anything is out of place. As for your feet, I don't know anyone that would look at somebody's feet when they meet on the road."

She stared into my eyes for what felt like an eternity. I swear, it was as if she was looking at the very fiber of my being. Though still hesitant at first, she finally took of the boots in the end, laying them down on the back with the rest of the cargo. She wiggled her toes for a bit. Wearing boots when not being used to footwear must be a strange experience. She looked ready to jump off the cart and run on the grass. I chuckled lightly, looking back towards the road.

For the next few hours, I made small talk with her about what she should expect to see in Ylisstol. I rather have her be prepared for what she might see than have her panic and snap my arm without a moment's notice. At first it was only I who talked. I was caught in a situation where I didn't know if I was bothering her with how much I was saying. And with her giving small responses, I began to be too aware of myself and what I was saying. In other words, I was starting to feel like the loud man in the tavern. There's _always_ one of those, and they _always_ get on people's nerves because they don't shut up. Not sure if I was being too bothersome or not, I slowed down the topics until we both were sitting there silently once again.

I'm used to silence. Traveling alone, I came to appreciate it even. But for some reason, this girl makes me want to talk, something that I could go without for days when traveling from town to town. It was odd to me, seeing as how we'd only known each other for such a short time. Yet, there I was, feeling incredibly awkward by the second like a teenager trying to find the words that could spark a conversation with their crush.

To my surprise, Panne was the one that came up with the next topic. It was more like a comment, really. She mentioned that the other taguel in her warren would never talk that much about anything other than combat or food except for the children. I wasn't too sure how to take that, exactly, and was even more confused when she turned to me and said, "but it somehow feels familiar to me."

Seeing as how she was the one that brought up her warren, I saw this as an opportunity to learn more about the taguel and her warren in particular. At the time I thought that I could dig out something else from her about where their warren might have run off to if I asked the right question. But I didn't quite know what could trigger a memory, so I went with the simple route. I tilted my head towards her to take a glance at her. "Where there many children in your warren?"

She looked up at the sky, as if giving it careful thought. "There were several other children with me when I was growing up, yes. Taguel give birth to litters that range from one to four bunnies. Though we had many adults, at the time there were very few women that were of age. It used to be that a generation for my warren meant having fifteen children being born, but in the case of mine, there were only nine, myself included."

I was pretty happy with myself. She didn't avoid the question and we already were in the time range that I wanted. So I kept going, this time asking if she had any siblings of her own.

Panne told me that she had a younger brother named Aryne, but that both her litter and his had consisted of only them. It seems that for taguel, having two litters of single children is extremely rare, and that these children are thought to be weaker than the average taguel. However, before her warren disappeared, she had been praised for her strength and skill. She admitted that she pushed herself more because she didn't like being thought of as weak, and her drive was rewarded. The leaders of the warren had high expectations for her, which could mean that she wasn't abandoned as I first thought… Oh, and her brother wasn't particularly strong for someone his age, but he wasn't weak either, or so she told me. It's hard to say if she was being objective about that or wanted to make his brother sound better than he wa- is…

We talked for a long time after that, even as we snacked, but I didn't get anywhere in trying to find more clues from her. What I did learn was how different her childhood was from mine. It should have been obvious enough, but when I was just starting to learn to speak she was already learning to hunt. When my mother was teaching me to read and write, she was learning how to take care of her armor and beaststone. It is strange to think that someone born in Ylisse would need to learn so much about combat if you look at the Halidom as it currently stands, but back then the crusade was going at full force.

When the sun started to set, I looked for a good spot to stop and make camp. Traveling in the darkness is just asking for trouble, if you ask me. Not only are you exposing yourself to hazards that could be easily avoided during the day, but if soldiers spot you, you'll be questioned as if you were a smuggler. That is something that could absolutely not happen while having Panne with me. Even if there weren't many soldiers in Ylisse, I would rather get her used to this routine early on.

"Camp" is a fancy word for what we could make, actually. Camps have tents or some sort of shelter. That is a luxury that I don't carry on my cart—too much weight and space wasted. Blankets near a small fire is the best I could do. I had Panne go to the nearby stream and fill our waterskins while I collected some firewood. When she got back, I had the fire going already thanks to my, oh so useful fire tome. A flint and steel would do, but this was an excuse to get some practice in with magic.

Dinner wasn't anything fancy either. A couple of apples for each and some bread too. That was enough to fill me up, but Panne also had half a cabbage head. Our metabolisms really are different after all. It worries me for the future…and my wallet. I need to try to have her eat something with a bit of fat in it.

I spent the rest of the day taking care of Clever as well as getting things ready for us to sleep. I had a tarp that I laid down on the grass to sleep over to keep my clothes clean. I tried offering to Panne—one of us could sleep on the cart too—but she said that she rather sleep directly on the grass. I had her take off _my_ cloak and use a blanket instead. Before you ask, by _my_ cloak I mean the one she was wearing, not the one I was wearing… I went to sleep that night without being able to write anything, something that I'm not used to. I was too tired to bother with it.

The next day was a repeat of the previous one, with us having small chitchats, except that the silences between them were comfortable ones. I was glad to see that Panne was completely relaxed. Instead of sitting straight as an arrow, she was leaning back a bit. It suits her better, in my opinion. She may be cute when she is nervous, but the wa she carried herself then felt more natural.

I wasn't expecting anything too big to happen that day considering how far we were from both Southtown and Ylisstol, but that didn't mean that was the case as around noon I spotted a lonesome figure walking ahead of us down the road. When I pointed it out to Panne, she put the cloak and boots back on and lifted the cowl to cover her ears without me having to say anything. Passing by someone on the road is normal, but I somehow had the feeling that that ocassion would be anything but.

As we closed the distance, I noticed a few things about the figure. It was a pretty young girl walking—wobbling a bit—with a staff on her hand. The sound of us approaching caught her attention. She turned around to look in our direction and then rubbed her eyes for a bit as if to confirm that we were really there. She perked up instantly, waving her hands in the air and running at us with some strange burst of energy. Seeing someone so young walking around by themselves in the middle of nowhere, now that is strange. My mind jumped back to what that soldier told me when we left town. Thinking that maybe she was part of a group that got attacked, I decided to have a word with her, something Panne didn't seem to mind all that much.

I brought the cart to a halt when we reached her. She was breathing heavily, having ran the last hundred feet or so. Her attire told me that she wasn't used to running around much, which only made me more curious to know what she was doing there. Her dress even looked like it was difficult to walk in. I waited for the blonde girl to catch her breath before saying anything.

"I'm so happy to see someone around here!" she said as she gave us a toothy smile. "I was getting worried I would have to spend another day on my own. It's cold out here! And there are so many bugs! I swear! I think I ate a couple just running to see you guys, yuck."

"You don't look like an average traveler. If I may ask, what brings such a young girl to these parts?" I asked, trying to sound as polite as I could. The dress she was wearing wasn't one you would find in a town girl. No, the details and stitching on it looked too fine, even from a distance. It was something more like what a noble would wear if it wasn't for it looking somewhat dirty. "Could it be that you got separated from your group, miss?"

She laughed as she scratched the back of her head, clearly embarrassed, and said, "you could say that. But! Now everything will be aaaalright. Right?"

"I don't follow…" I was getting a bad feeling coming off from the girl.

She looked at me with a confused expression. "Uuh… I mean, could you guys… you know… Help me out here? I would really, really appreciate it."

"If you want a lift you should just say so," I told her. I was about to let her get on when I remembered that I had to be more careful than I normally am. I turned to look at Panne. "What do you think? Should we give her a hand?"

"W-Wait!" the girl exclaimed before Panne had a chance to respond. "You are not seriously thinking about leaving lil' ol' me here, are you?"

"Well…" I averted my eyes from hers.

"That's mean! Haven't you ever heard of a damsel in distress? People should always help those in need, right?" The girl lived a sheltered life if she thought that was how the real world worked. Then again, I did end up helping Panne on her quest… Panne nodded too, probably thinking the same thing. The girl gave a wide smile, ready to get on the cart, but I stopped her. "What's the problem now? I'm real small! I won't take _that_ much space!"

"Don't you think you should tell someone _where_ you are heading to before getting on a cart with strangers?"

"I'm heading to Ylisstol, you dummy." The girl was acting too familiar already. I should have seen that as a bad sign. She asked for our names, which I gave, and then introduced herself as Lissa—like her clothes, it was a fancy name, but her attitude didn't reflect any of that. When I finally agreed to let her get on, the loudest stomach growl I've ever heard came from her. She clutched her stomach and practically collapsed. She looked embarrassed, but not enough to look up at me with pleading eyes. I already knew what was coming. She didn't have any supplies with her—none that I could see—so I decided we would stop for lunch and have Clever graze and recover some of her energy.

I could tell that Lissa had skipped a few meals already if her stomach was like that. If that was the case, she couldn't eat anything that was too heavy, but it had to be filling none the less. She needed a soup or stew, which to me—and considering what we had on the cart—meant carrot soup. I already knew that Panne liked it too, so it was a safe bet.

I had them collect some firewood for me while I got the cart off of Clever and got the things ready. They got back pretty quickly and the fire was roaring minutes after. Both of them just stared at me as I cooked, which made me feel incredibly self-conscious to the point of almost cutting myself, _twice,_ with the knife. Thankfully, Lissa started talking about this and that, the questions mostly revolving around my trade. It's not every day that I get to talk to a stranger about it, so I welcomed it.

Eventually though, she asked the one thing that I wished she hadn't brought up. With each hand on each cheek, she asked if Panne and I were married since we were traveling together and looked to be "close" (I don't understand how considering she barely knew us and we hadn't interacted much, I thought). I went with the easy answer, saying that we were. I thought that would be the end of that, but then she pointed out that we weren't wearing any rings.

Of course! Rings! I hadn't considered the damn things! I had to think fast! I ended up blurting out that we got married a couple of days ago, and that because there weren't any goldsmiths nor jewelers in town to purchase rings from, we decided to purchase some in Ylisstol. Lucky for me, she didn't know that in Ylisse, no priest will marry two people without rings due to their symbolic significance in marriage. She found the idea of us being newlyweds more exciting, like someone that is reading an exciting novel.

Things got more out of hand when she asked how long we had known each other for and Panne answered with "a few days". Lissa and I stopped what we were doing to process what Panne had said. If I hadn't been looking down to cut the vegetables, my expression would have blown our cover. The awkward silence was then broken by Lissa. Her high pitch "kyaaaaa" is still ringing in my ears right now.

"That's so romantic!" she said with flushed cheeks. _I_ should have been the one with flush cheeks! "It's like the novels my sister, my friends, and I read. Love at first sight!"

I know she asked us a lot of things after that, but I can't for the life of me remember what I said. I was winging it, trying as hard as I could to weave a convincing story while Panne answered some questions aimed at her with the truth.

Somehow, we got by. What's more, I had our meal ready too. There was even a piece of bread for each of us. With three of us but only two bowls on the cart, I had to eat directly out of the pot. Lissa was more than happy to wolf down her portion. She said something along the lines of being so hungry that she would even eat bear meat, which I don't understand. Bear meat is delicious! The fact that it's cheap everywhere makes it all that much tastier to me. I was still glad that Lissa was eating the soup, even if I did feel insulted by the way she said it.

Personally, I thought it was good. The vegetables and the stock were fresh enough for it to be flavorful. It was even better than the one that I did back in the cave before I met Panne. I turned to look at her to see what she thought of it only to see her picking out the pieces of potato and dropping them to a side. I was shocked! I immediately asked what she was doing.

"I can't digest potatoes," she said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"But I thought you said you liked it a couple of days ago! You even ate all of it," I said.

"It is delicious," she said as she chewed down on a piece of carrot. "That time I threw out the potato outside the cave. Maybe you didn't see them because of the mud."

I brought my free palm to my face. "You should have told me that before and I would have made sure you got only carrots. Here, I'll trade you my carrots for your potatoes. We shouldn't be wasting food now that there's three of us sharing supplies for two."

Halfway through our trade, I heard Lissa giggling to herself. When I turned to look at her, I saw her grinning. "You guys are so adorable," she said, making me blush. I must have made a strange expression because she started laughing and saying I had a very "rubbery face", as she so eloquently put it.

We set off after our lunch was done. Panne and I took the seats on the front, while Lissa had no choice other than to sit on the back. At least it had to be more comfortable to sit on the crates in the half-empty cart than on my previous cargo. She was a good sport, not complaining about it. She did complain about her dress, though. I was tempted to ask her about it, seeing as it was practically given away that she was part of nobility, but I decided against it, seeing no benefit in knowing more than I already did about her. Lissa, however, was more than eager to know more about us. Talking was fun, but also very tiring. Before I knew it, the sun was already setting. We had to look for a new spot to setup camp.

Other than food, I had forgotten about sleeping arrangements for us all when I told Lissa she could come with us. We could all sleep on the soft grass and be fine with it, but I only had two blankets for the three of us. I told Lissa and Panne that they should share the tarp and a blanket and that I would sleep on the ground. A husband would make sure his wife was comfortable, right? And who would be so mean as to let a girl rough it out like that? Panne seemed to get the idea as I asked her to help me unfold the tarp, but Lissa had a mischievous glint in her eye when we were done.

"You two are newlyweds. I'm sure you rather sleep together and cuddle," she said. "I'll be fine. I'm so small that I can fit on the cart no problem. You two can share one blanket too. Doesn't that make more sense? If I was married, I would want to sleep besides my husband every chance I got. Right, Panne?"

Panne only stared at Lissa blankly before turning to look at me for a second, then back at Lissa.

"I-I would rather not make you uncomfortable, Lissa," I tried to explain. "It's no problem at all for us. We have the rest of our lives together to sleep together. It's no big deal."

"I won't take that for an answer." She walked to me and grabbed one of the blankets from my hands, heading back to the cart. "I'm grateful for everything the two of you have done for me today. This is the least I can do."

I felt cornered in the strangest way. Most guys would kill to have been in my shoes. This was a chance to share a night (just sleeping, nothing more) with a beautiful woman. Who wouldn't like that? That's what I should have been thinking, but I felt very strange about the arrangement. On the one hand, there was that. On the other, it could make things incredibly awkward for the both of us later on. The choice was already out of my hands, however. With a sigh, I laid down on the tarp and waited for Panne to do the same.

She looked over at Lissa to make sure she wasn't looking before removing her cloak. Storing it on the cart would be bad come morning, so I told her to lay it on a side for the night. She finally laid down next to me, our shoulders bumping into each other. The tarp felt a lot smaller than I remembered. I quickly covered us with the blanket before wishing everyone a good night. Lissa was snoring soon after. I don't know how long it had been since we laid down, but I couldn't fall asleep.

"Your heart is beating hard and fast," Panne whispered. "Is something wrong?"

I denied it. Pretty stupid on my part. I think she got suspicious. I was ready to have her ask again, but instead, she laid her head on top of my chest and wrapped her arms around me. Feeling her that close made all my blood rush to my cheeks. I asked, "what are you doing?"

"We sleep close in my warren to comfort one another. Your heart is racing so much; this should help you sleep."

I understood the point and all, but it was backwards logic to me. If anything, I was going to have a harder tie falling asleep like that. Or so I thought. After a little while, it did feel very comforting. My senses were overwhelmed by her close proximity, and yet, it was extremely soothing. I can't recall how long after that I fell asleep, but if I had to guess it must have taken only a few minutes.

I remember waking up the next morning and feeling disoriented. It mostly stemmed from the feeling of someone griping my body tightly, just as I was doing theirs. Of course, I'm talking about Panne. How I ended up with my arms wrapped around her is anyone's guess. I didn't know what to do in a situation like that. Should one wake up the other? Or was I supposed to wait? Not knowing any better, I tried to wake her, but stopped when I noticed she was shaking and mumbling something under her breath. Had I the same hearing ability as her, I would have been able to make out what she was saying, but alas, I am only human. All I could tell was that whatever she was dreaming about wasn't good.

With my position under her, I slowly tried to rock her awake, calling out her name. It took some time, but eventually she did stop shaking and soon after open her eyes. She was quick to push herself off of me, as if I had some smell on me that repulsed her. Turning away from me, she moved to put on the cloak. It made sense. She was shivering only slight. It made sense. She was shivering only slightly and had a thin layer of sweat on her arms. I told myself that it was cold sweat. I tried asking her if everything was fine. She said she was fine. I asked again to make sure. This time her response was much harsher and louder—enough to wake up a certain blonde on the cart that had been snoring since the night before. Panne then got up, said she needed to take a walk, and left.

I had finished putting everything away and preparing breakfast by the time she came back. I didn't know how to handle the situation, which is why I decided to remain silent. Panne did the same, focusing on her meal completely. I think Lissa read the atmosphere well enough to not try and say something that would get in anybody's nerves.

We passed half a day in silence, apart from me and Lissa having a few back and forwards about this and that. I could find comfort in being close to Ylisstol. We would be there in time to get a late lunch at one of the inns, and then we would have the rest of the day to relax at the inn or maybe search for some clues as to the whereabouts of Panne's warren. Or so was my plan…

"I hear horses," Panne says out of nowhere, sounding very serious. "A lot of them. They are approaching. Fast."

Lissa leaned from the back, her head sticking between me and Panne. She squinted her eyes and tried to focus on anything ahead of us, but not even I could see anything yet. "Are you sure you are not imagining things?" she asked. "I don't hear anything."

I didn't doubt Panne's word. If she said there were horses, there had to be horses. Soon enough, I spotted them. Sure enough, they were horses. Horses carrying people in armor. My first instinct is that they are a band of bandits trying to make easy coin by stealing from people like me, but upon further inspection, I scratch that idea. The formation they were moving in, it required discipline. It's not something you often see be done by bandits.

"Must be knights doing some training," I say. "Nothing to worry about as long as we stay out of their way." To do this, I moved to a stopped on the side of the road. We would wait there until the horsemen passed and then resume.

To my surprise, the whole bunch of them came to a stop in front of me, not more than twenty feet away. A man from the group told the others something before advancing alone. I was starting to get nervous at that point. These people weren't bandits, but on the back of my mind someone was yelling that they could be hunters looking for taguel. The chances for that were extremely low, but I had never bothered to look out for hunters like that when traveling.

The man presented himself as Ser Frederick. We exchanged pleasantries. Did my best to keep the attention off of Panne, who had scooted over to my side, her hand gripping my right arm. It wasn't my first time in a situation like that. So when he asked whether we were hiding anything, I was ready with my answer.

"N-No…" It sounded much more confident in my mind.

"Then you would not mind us inspecting your cart," he said, waving one of his men over.

"We came from Southtown. The cart was already inspected over there," I argued.

"There are many places between ourselves and Southtown, mister Robin. Contraband could have made its way into your cart between your departure and now. Please be cooperative. If you speak the truth, you will be on your way to Ylisstol within a few minutes."

They were only checking the cart, so I told them go right ahead. As long as they didn't have us get down from the cart and searched _us_ , then we wouldn't have a problem. But this did not include our extra passenger. The man inspecting the cart lifted the tarp and noticed that Lissa, for whatever reason, had hidden herself under it. One look at the girl was all it took for him and Ser Frederick to unsheathe their swords and point them at Panne and I. I lifted my hands to show I wasn't armed.

"Mister Robin, get down from the cart," the knight ordered, his tone stern and cold.

"I don't understand, what is-"

"He said to get down!" The soldier or whatever the man that checked the back was grabbed onto my left arm and pulled me off of the cart. I came rolling down, face first, onto the ground. I must have hit a rock when I hit the ground, because I could feel a sharp pain on the area between my hairline and my right eyebrow.

I made an effort to pick myself back up, but my head wasn't working right. I sat down on the ground, looking at the cart. I could see Panne standing up, her eyes wide as she looked at me.

"Robin!" she cried out. The same man that had thrown me down was now holding onto her wrist. I wished that I had my tome with me at that point… I've never been much of a fighter, but at least I could have defended myself, somehow. But we were outnumbered many times over. What's more, I could feel why Panne looked at me the way she did. I was bleeding. A lot.

I felt dizzy and my vision began to go black. One of the last things I remember seeing was Panne transform. I can't quite describe it. It is both beautiful and terrifying, if that makes any sense. Perhaps the state my mind was in made it seem like that. She was much bigger than I expected. All the soldiers and the knight backed away as she swiped at them. I bet she gave them hell…

Next thing I know, I'm waking up in this lavish room with two soldiers at the door. My first instinct is to ask what happened to Panne and Lissa, but they won't say anything to me. They just keep staring, their back straight and a spear on their hand.

I still have my things with me, as you can see from reading this entry. For whatever reason, they didn't think it was worth taking, I guess.

I don't know what to do…

I want to know what happened to Panne.

They better not have hurt them, or… I don't know… Is there anything I could do, even? Damn it…

…

They are telling me there is someone that wishes to speak to me.

If this is the last entry on here… You know what probably happened.

If Panne, by chance, is still alive and reads this…

I'm sorry.

-Robin

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That took a long time to make, no? Sorry about that. Too much going on IRL at the same time, including a move and starting work at an office.

My schedule is stabilizing enough now that I can make time to write again.

Anyways, just to let you guys know, this is still gonna keep going. I'll do my best to update as soon as possible, seeing as I already have most of the next chapter planned out. But take into account that this is one of four stories I'm currently writing. If you guys can be as patient as you've been waiting for this chapter, that will be awesome c:

A bit about the story now: I finally decided that all this is taking place _before_ the events of the game. This means that it could eventually go that way too, though if that were the case, from the moment we enter game-story territory, you'll know we are on the last stretch. I would only make a few chapters for that before ending the story. I had already said before that I'm thinking of making this a relatively short story. When I say short, it still means more than ten chapters, though xD We'll see where this takes us.

I wasn't too sure about brining in too many characters in one chapter. There are four here, but only one made a major appearance. That's how I'll handle any other characters that show up. They'll be there for a chapter or two and then we move on. Also, to cover more ground and such, I might also do what I did here and cover a few days per chapter. Obviously there will be timeskips for travel and such too so that I don't stall and end up with a writer's block so massive that I can't continue this.

I hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you think by leaving a review as well as clicking on follow and/or favorite!

On to reviews!

 **Drakolf** -Thank you very much! As for your question, I do have a few plans on Anna. I know I want her to show up a few times, given that there are so many Anna's. But what I have to think is what role to give the game's ally Anna.

 **The Other Guy** -Thanks! I hope it does well. Well, I say that, but in two chapters this has done great! I hope it can keep going like that even after the long break... Especially now that things are slowing down in the FE fic section (or so I think.) More than recognition though, I prefer to hear the thoughts of my readers on the story. This pairing isn't all that popular, which I knew when I started. So even if I get reviews only from the same few people, I'm going to be really happy still!

 **animegamerlover2** -I know I already answered this long ago on a different fic, but I thought I would mention you here anyways :P

 **potatoman098** -I debated for a long time whether to have this happen as the events of the game unfold, but I think I rather keep those events in the bag for now and use them to end the story. Of course, there still has to be an epilogue of some sort after that.

 **EVmeatdrummer98** -Thanks! And I'm glad you noticed xD Because I do these responses, I always recognize people that leave reviews on more than one of my stories. Always nice to see someone enjoy more than one, haha! Expect a chapter for GoL within a week, by the way *hint hint, nudge nudge*

 **Teh Esprite** -There are millions of ways to use Anna's. Your suggestion could be one of them... Hmmm... Got to consider things.

 **EquinoxWolf** -I love reading supports. I just have really crappy memory! It's annoying to forget, but cool because then I can go back and reread them and enjoy them like the first time again. I wonder if Panne was stealing Olivia's food and eating it, though. She could have just taken it for the fun of it. I can always scratch the diet thing as something that Robin was told by someone else. I was thinking around those lines on this chapter when Robin mentions having Panne eat something with fat. Speaking of eating, I also did that little thing I mentioned the other time to rectify the potato thing!

 **RangerManSam -** I'm really glad you gave the story a shot and liked it! Spice and Wolf is great, though I only watched the anime, so I only know that "ending". Gotta find myself the light novels and read them all. As for economics, I think I'll ease people into them, making them more complex as the chapters go on so that no one feels too overwhelmed. Maybe I'll leave references on the bottom of the chapter too explaining some things xD Could be a good idea, in case people are genuinely interested in that.


	4. 12th of the 1st month of Autumn

_**Important change!**_ I'm changing the height of Panne and Robin. Before, I said that Robin was tall and that he would be taller than most people in Ylisse. Now, he is tall for someone from Valm, but average height to shortish in Ylisse. To put it into perspective, he would be shorter than Chrom but a lot taller than Lissa while Panne would be Chrom's height.

It's good to see that the interest in this one hasn't died down. Makes me happy t see people still looking forward to see more chapters for this story! I'm loving the feedback/reviews I'm getting. Thank you all a lot!

Remember to leave a review to let me know what you think, what you liked, and what you didn't like. Also, follow and/or favorite the story if you really like it. Enjoy~

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Day 12h of the first month of Autumn

Well… that wasn't my last entry. I'm still alive, obviously. "But how can that be?" you may ask. I'm not too sure myself. Too much has happened from when I last wrote to right now. Let me go back to the beginning and do my best to explain the situation.

Guards had come to get me without any warning. They wore similar armor to that of the group of people that Ser Frederick had with him when we met, except that their armor looked more…formal? Whereas the people with the knight looked more like soldiers—maybe guards of some sort too—these were dressed more for appearances than for combat, which made me think that I wasn't stuck in some sort of dungeon with high ceilings and comfortable beds. I wasn't sure how to take that. For all I knew, they were giving me a pleasant time before they cut off my head. I wasn't even sure why I was there in the first place!

Easy to say, I did not resist. When armed men come to collect you and all you have are your fists and some writing tools, you don't have another choice unless you know how to fist fight, which I do not. Not well enough, anyways. I made sure to hide my writing tools and this inside my cloak again before following the men out the room and into the corridor. As we walked, I took the chance to look at the décor. You would be surprised at how much the decorations and architecture of a place can tell you about the house that owns it. Now, I must admit, I've only ever been in the home of a Lord once, and that was a small Lord in Valm. That place, which I had found quite luxurious, had nothing on this place. If this was a castle or palace, that was but a filthy log cabin. Huge wooden doors carved and painted with exquisite detail, extravagant vases, paintings of all styles and sizes. These were all in full display along the walls, which extended high up to reveal the painted, vaulted roof. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before. But as I took notice of these things, I also noticed the lack of windows. We had been walking for quite a while—turning and twisting around the corridors of this labyrinth—but we had yet to come across a single window.

That couldn't have been on purpose. Once, on some old tavern in Regna Ferox, a man had shared a story with me about how he had once been taken captive after smuggling some goods. The Lord that captured him had his guards walk him around the place to exhausts him both physically and mentally before the interrogation. That tactic had cost the man a few fingers as punishment for his crime, which, to be fair, he did commit. So when I found myself in the same shoes as that man, I started getting nervous.

After an eternity and a half, we stopped in front of one of the doors. One of the guards opened it, and then waved me in, saying that I should take a seat and remain silent. I did as he said, hoping that if I cooperated with them then they would tell me what happened to Panne, Lissa, Clever, and my cart.

I was fully expecting them to make me wait for a few more hours, but to my surprise, no sooner had I taken a seat than the door opposite of me opened up and in walked what looked to me like a knight. The woman in blue cloth and golden armor looked at me sternly, her features formed into a permanent frown only made delicate by the beauty mark under her right eye. She studied me for a moment, looking me up and down, scanning me to see if I was a threat or not for her liege. Our eyes locked, but neither of us said anything. I tried my best to give of a calm aura. I sat up straight, my hands laying on the table before me to show that I didn't have any weapon with me. Satisfied with what she had seen, she left the room only to return a minute later. This time, she stood at attention near the door before another woman walked in.

Blonde, slender, and with a serene expression, she walked in, carrying a small wooden box in her delicate hands. I had no doubt that she had to be the Lady of the place. If her physique didn't show it, her clothes, made of fine green silk embroidered by golden thread, was evidence enough. For someone like me, who gets a decent living, even clothes like that are out of my reach. Seeing someone like that, I felt compelled to show some sort of respect. I slowly tried to stand, but she stopped me when she raised a hand in front of her.

"There if no need for that," she told me, her voice delivering some warmth to the otherwise cold and tense atmosphere of the room. "Please, sit. I insist."

"A-As you say, milady." Yes, I stuttered. I didn't know what to do, even when she told me I should take a sit. I looked over at the knight, who nodded as a way to tell me it was alright. There was nothing for me to do other than look at the blonde who had entered. She took the sit on the other side of the table facing me, setting down the bow to a side. It had to be evident that I wouldn't start the exchange since I didn't know what was going on because the woman smiled at me and then asked for my name. "Robin, milady. I'm a traveling merchant—a peddler. I left Southtown on the 9th, heading to Regna Ferox by way of Ylisstol. I was to sell a small crate of pepper in Ylisstol and the rest of my goods in Ferox."

Like in trade, I am used to keeping control over conversations by giving the information others want to hear before they ask for it. Usually, I would change things here and there for it to benefit me. White lies, some would call them. Really, they are just lies! In this situation, though old habits resurfaced, I did not intend to lie to someone that could have me killed easier than some merchant could.

"I see. And it was during that time that you met Lissa?" she asked.

"Yes, milady." I went on to explain everything that happened when we first met. How we saw her walking on her own. How she asked for our help to get to Ylisstol. How we shared meals while we traveled together. I told her everything that I could remember. She nodded along, her smile widening at some points and her brow furrowing at others. It was both strange and amusing to see the range of emotions that went through her by the time I ended my story with me blacking out. "That is everything, milady."

The Lady seemed pensive, rubbing her fingers together. However, it seemed that the knight had something to say. She looked at me, frown and all, and said, "you keep using "milady" when you should be-"

"That's enough, Phila. There is no need for that. Mister Robin has been very helpful, after all," she said. I was curious as to what the knight, Phila, was going to say, but I wasn't about to ask her to continue. Before long, the Lady(?) continued. She explained that she was Lissa's older sister. Days before we met up with Lissa, she had vanished from the castle. Predictably so, that caused a panic among the staff and to her siblings. They searched for her to thoroughly, but there was no sign of her anywhere. That only left one possibility in their mind: Lissa had been kidnapped.

I suddenly understood why I had been attacked. When I first met Ser Frederick, I had told them everything was fine. When the cart was inspected and a hiding Lissa was found, they must've thought that I was the kidnapper. It was all a misunderstanding, but it still didn't make it justifiable for me to be thrown to the ground. I told them that when Lissa came to us, I did assume she was some sort of noble because of her clothing, but she never mentioned it herself. All I knew at the time was that she was hungry, tired, and needed some help. I also mentioned that it had been Panne who convinced me of taking her along.

At the mention of Panne, the blonde turned to look at Phila, smiling at the knight, before turning back to me. She said that Lissa had told them the same story I had, though less detailed and more commentary. She finished by saying, "I believe you too. You were misjudged due to the circumstances and suffered from it. For that, from the bottom of my heart, I apologize." It's an odd feeling, receiving an apology from a noble when you are a commoner. It felt...awkward. More so when they bow their head to you.

I did sigh in relief, feeling a weight lifted off my shoulders. My back relaxed and I slumped on my chair, glad that everything was over. But then, that wasn't true. It wasn't over. I was innocent and I knew that Lissa was well, but I still didn't know anything about Panne, Clever, and my cart. So I asked—being a concerned "husband", I wanted to know where my wife was.

"Of course," she said, moving the box she had set aside to be in front of her, but not opening it. "That was what I wanted to talk about next, if you don't mind." I didn't have an option, so I signaled her to continue. "Lissa had mentioned that you and your lady wife had married only recently. More than for the timing of it, I was surprised to see that a human would marry a taguel."

Shit. I remember looking at her baffled by her words. Obviously they would know that she was a taguel. Before I blacked out, she had transformed in front of my eyes. I didn't get a chance to see exactly what she looked like, but when something like that happens, there is no doubt that everyone in the vicinity will notice the giant rabbit standing on top of a cart in the middle of nowhere. I felt my blood go cold, my hands forming into fists as the words from Grandma and Grandpa repeated over and over in my head. I was already imagining the worst.

She, on the other hand, giggled. "Panne was brought here in tattered clothes and a cloak covering her. Do not worry, the soldiers that brought you in did nothing to her. The clothes ripped when she transformed. You can make sure she is not injured later, if you like. I know that as a husband, the last thing you would want is for your wife to be assaulted. Thankfully, Lissa was able to convince Ser Frederick to stand down and explained the situation to him. She was also the one that healed you, feeling it was the least she could do. Though, it was difficult. Panne cradled you and would not allow anyone but her lay a finger on you. We had to cast a spell on her so she would fall asleep and we could treat your wound."

That explained why I was alone in the room. With Lissa insisting Panne and I sleep together in the field, I would have expected her to do the same here...wherever the heck we were. Knowing that Panne was fine, I asked where we were.

"We are in the palace of Ylisstol," she said. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced us. My name is Emmeryn, Exalt of Ylisse. And that over there is Phila, captain of the Pegasus Knights and a close friend of mine."

Being someone well traveled, I couldn't have felt more embarrassed that I hadn't recognized her sooner. This was my first time seeing the Exalt in person, but I had heard people talk about the beautiful, young Exalt that had reformed Ylisse in the few years since she took the position. I'd been thinking that Emmeryn was the daughter of some Lord or another. She was quite young, maybe twenty or so. To think someone so young could do so much...

I wanted to bow down—I was in the presence of a queen, after all—but she stopped me once again, telling me that I shouldn't do it after everything I had gone through. She pushed the small box over to me. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I looked back at her. "It's a present," she explained. "For bringing my sister back home when she needed help. We can talk about compensation for the trouble that my soldiers caused you and your wife later, if you don't mind. For now, why don't you open it?"

The box itself would have been a nice reward by itself. Like everything I had seen in the palace, it was elegant and made with the utmost attention to detail. It depicted some event or another—I never studied Ylissean history—on the sides and on top. It was beautiful, really. Something like that could sell for a hefty amount. I could only imagine what she would put in there. I was already feeling guilty about receiving such a thing for doing a mundane task as giving someone a lift.

Inside the box were wedding bands made out of gold and encrusted with small amethysts and sapphires. The color and shine of the stones was almost blinding. If the box was expensive, imagine what you could get from selling the rings! I wasn't even sure if I wanted to take them out of the box to examine them more closely. Getting them dirty would be such a shame...

"Lissa told me that you and your wife were coming to Ylisstol in order to get yourselves wedding rings," Emmeryn explained. "After all the trouble that we've caused you and the kindness you showed my sister, giving you these is the least we can do."

I felt even more guilty after hearing that. My marriage to Panne was a way to protect her—a cover for us so that people wouldn't ask too many questions. But with those rings in front of me, rings that the Exalt of Ylisse herself went out of her way in obtaining for us, I didn't know what to do. Should've I kept lying? Of course I should've, at this point there is no turning back on that. But that didn't mean that I could in good conscious take those rings. I pushed the box towards the Exalt, shaking my head. I told her that I didn't need a reward. I wasn't expecting much in the first place when I helped Lissa.

She pushed it back towards me. "All the more reason for you to have them," she said with a wide smile that would break the will of any man or woman. "If you two hadn't been there, gods know what would've become of Lissa. Please, take them. I insist."

Still hesitant, I decided to give in and take them. I had heard that the Exalt was a stubborn person, in a good way. Then again, that is to be expected of the woman that ended the Crusades and brought peace back to Ylisse through sheer determination and a dream that would have most of her father's counselors laughing. In the end, I thanked her for the gift, not sure what I would do with something like that. I couldn't sell it, as much as I could use the gold for something else.

With things settled, the Exalt told me she would take me to Panne. I was anxious to see if she was alright. I left her on her own in a strange room before, but this situation was different. Since she had to be put to sleep so that I would be treated, she wouldn't know what happened to me. I hoped that she would be fine, but something in my gut told me that wouldn't be the case.

Down the hallway, I could see Ser Frederick and Lissa waiting. The princess had a concerned look on her face as she stared at the knight. I could feel myself tensing up involuntarily. When we met up with them, Ser Frederick apologized for the misunderstanding, saying he felt a great deal of shame and should have controlled his soldiers better. I agreed, but brushed it off. I just wanted to get out of there. Lissa was very apologetic, as I'd expected her to be. I told her it was all in the past and she shouldn't concern herself with it. I asked her if she knew where Panne was, and that was when she and Ser Frederick gave me the same look she had when I spotted her.

They explained that after I was taken away, everything had been fine with Panne. Lissa would check on her every hour to see if she had woken. During one of those visits, it turned out that Panne was awake and not happy with the situation.

"We tried talking with her, but she won't listen to anything we say!" Lissa frantically explained. "She keeps asking for you, but because you were still asleep, we couldn't bring you to her. When we told her you were resting, she didn't believe us either. She refuses to see anyone. If someone so much as tried to open the door, she throws something at the door."

Who could blame her? One moment she was watching over me and the next she is all alone in a big room being checked on by strangers. Add to it the paranoia of being hunted, and you get one scared bunny. I let out a sigh. I had to go in myself to assure Panne everything was alright. I let them know that no one should enter after I do until I can calm her down. They didn't have much of a chose other than to agree to my plan.

I was taken to the room where Panne in, with everyone keeping some distance away after I told them that she would be able to hear them and think this was some sort of trap if they stayed too close by. First thing I did was try knocking, but there was no response. So then I announced myself.

"Panne, are you in there?" I asked. "It's me, Rob-"

The door opened slightly. I inched closer to the opening. I could see her standing there, grabbing onto the doorknob with white knuckles. Her ears were lower than normal, even with her hair pulling them down. I also noticed that, like the Exalt had explained, her dress was ripped and she didn't have any boots on—with her sudden increase in size, they both got destroyed—but she was wearing my coat to cover herself.

When we made eye contact, she pushed the door open immediately and jumped out- actually, it's more fitting to say she hopped out, her head bumping into my chest. I braced myself best I could, but we ended up on the floor anyways. At least I landed on my butt instead of my head. She was trembling. I could feel it as she buried her head deeper onto my chest and grabbed handfuls of my shirt with both hands. I wrapped my arms around her, hoping that it would help calm her down. I could feel her trembling. It made me feel terrible. Though I knew what to expect when seeing her, actually seeing her react like that was heartbreaking.

"It's okay. It's okay. I'm fine. I'm sorry I made you worry." I kept whispering that over and over again.

When she raised her head, she looked at me with worry. Her hand slowly lifted to my forehead, where she touched lightly. She was touching the small scar that I now have on from above my right eyebrow to just above my hairline. I already knew I had gained that scar when we passed a polished armor set on the hallways and noticed my reflection. A small price considering I could have been killed.

"It's nothing," I reassured her with a smile. "If anything, it's embarrassing. I was supposed to be the one protecting you, but I didn't have a fighting chance. So much for that, huh?"

She smiled faintly, maybe even chuckled at my point. She was going back to the Panne I know. It looked like I was making good headway. If I could have talked with her, maybe she would have calmed down enough for us to be able to leave without a problem, but that wouldn't be the case, as the rest the others approached us. Panne took notice and instantly pushed me behind her, I could see her clenching her jaw and her hands forming into fists. She was getting ready to attack.

If a taguel attacked the Exalt and her sister, that would motivate more hunters to go after taguels. I couldn't have that, not when the whole point of me taking her with me was to find her warren. I took her hand in mine and told her how they were all good people. They had even healed me. She looked at me, still unsure if what I was saying was true, but she did relax, if only a bit, only to tense up again when they came to a stop in front of us.

"Brave taguel, humbly apologize for the trouble we've put you and your husband through," said the Exalt as she bowed down to Panne, who remained unmoved. "Looking for my sister for days put everyone on edge. It is not an excuse for the actions taken against you, but I hope it can help you understand why things happened the way they did. I wished the situation had been handled better…"

"I don't know you, nor do I care about your apology," said Panne. The Exalt lifted her head, looking at me and then at Panne in confusion. "You did nothing to us. This is the first time we've met. You have no reason to bow your head. You weren't involved in what happened." She pointed at Frederick and then at Lissa. "They are the ones that caused this. If anyone should apologize, it should be them."

"Panne, it's fine," I reassured her, but she wasn't having it.

"It's not fine, Robin! They were ready to kill us over nothing! Humans are not to be trusted!"

I couldn't deny what happened. To be honest, I too was still mad about it, but I think that because I knew that Panne was okay, everything was fine. "Panne, I'm human too. Remember Grandma and Grandpa back in Southtown? You told me once that you trusted them after I told you they were good people, right?" She nodded slowly. "Then trust me when I say that Lady Emmeryn and Captain Phila are good people. Lissa too, despite what happened. And I'm sure that Ser Frederick is too. Everyone was worried about not knowing where Lissa was, searching for her far and wide. Think about them as Lissa's warren, trying to do anything to make sure that Lissa was safe."

I could see Panne's determination faltering, the stiffness of the hand I was holding disappearing. "...You may be right… But Lissa is still to blame. Instead of explaining things, she hid away."

Lissa inched forward. She was playing with the hem of her dress as she avoided making eye contact with everyone. "I-I was scared," she said. "I knew that leaving Ylisstol without telling anyone was wrong, but I wanted to go. Before I knew it, days passed, and I ran out of food. I was really happy to have you two help me… But when I saw Frederick coming over, I knew that he, Chrom, and Emm would be mad at me for making everyone worried…"

"And that's why you hid," I said to confirm, with the princess nodding in response.

"I'm really, really, really, reeeeeeeeally, sorry, Panne."

"Apologize to Robin," Panne said coldly, making the girl flinch. "Your decision caused _him_ injury. He is the one that you should be apologizing to, not me."

"Come on, Panne. Be reasonable…" I already felt bad for having an interaction like that in front of the Exalt. Forcing a little girl like Lissa apologize to me, well, I don't know… It felt like bullying.

"I'm sorry, Robin," said Lissa, teary eyed. "She is right. If I had just talked with Frederick sooner… I… I… waaaaaaah!" Yes, it felt horrible to see a little girl cry like that. At least she understood that what she did was wrong, but damn. I did my best to calm her, Lady Emmeryn pushing the role of Exalt away to act as an older sister. Finally, Lissa calmed down enough that she was only sniffling. She smiled at me as she rubbed her eyes on one of her sleeves. "Thank you, Robin. You are really nice. I know it's not much for everything that happened, but I did ask Emm if she could get you something that I knew you and Panne would like as an apology."

 _The Rings! I forgot about the damn things!_ I was hoping no one would mention that. I let go of her hand and slowly brought out the box from the pocket I had been holding it in and showed it to Panne. She didn't react much to it, as I was expecting, though she did run her fingers over the carving. I felt cold sweat running down my back as I looked at the smiling group to my side, who were likely expecting me to do what one would with two rings… Gods, just thinking about it makes me feel embarrassed… I opened the box to show Panne the rings, who, again, did not react much to them other than looking at them with curiosity. "They are wedding bands," I told her, my cheeks burning up from the mixture of awkwardness and embarrassment I was feeling. "For us."

She looked at me, perplexed. They must not have a similar custom in taguel society. Thankfully (not) for me, Lady Emmeryn was more than happy to explain. "A wedding band symbolizes the eternal love two people have for one another. It shows that, through it all, one is never alone—you can always count on your partner to be there for you and lend a helping hand." She then turned to look at me and asked me to put them on, to see if they fit.

I wonder if the gods will look down on me and think that what I'm doing is wrong. I'd told Panne—and Lady Emmeryn said so again—that those that marry are deeply in love. So then, is it wrong that I'm faking this relationship with her for her sake? Will I have to look forward to some sort of divine punishment after I die? I hope not… Maybe helping Panne find her warren will even the scales… Then again, they wouldn't have been tipped in the first place if I hadn't met Panne.

What a horrible things to say. Bad Robin. Bad!

Anyways, going back to that important moment, I was cornered. I couldn't think of any way to get out of my predicament. Feeling trapped—some people say marriage is a trap, so ha!—I took out one of the rings from the box and, letting Panne hold the box with her right hand, I took her left and placed the ring, with shaking hands, on her finger. It fit her perfectly. I would say that the ring was made specifically for her if it wasn't that for that to be the case, it would have had to be made in hours. That would be an amazing goldsmith.

She had to at least somewhat understand what was happening because I could see that she too was blushing as she stared at the ring. I snapped her back to reality when I told her that she had to do the same with me. She grabbed the other ring from the box—this time I held onto it—and took my hand. Before putting it on, I saw her hesitate. The ring hovering in front of my finger as she pondered about something. I could feel everyone staring at us, or her. Maybe she wasn't good with pressure. Or maybe she didn't want to be tied with someone like me for the rest of her life. Heck, we barely know each other! I know Lissa said that it was very romantic for us, who'd only known each other for a short time, to marry like that, but doing this much? No way would I be doing this under normal circumstances! I liked to think that I would marry someone that I had been friends with for a while after we'd been courting. You know, like a normal relationship. Don't get me wrong, I _know_ it wasn't anything official and that I can take off the ring whenever, but still… Good thing my friends back home can't read this. They would say "you are such a girl" or something along those lines…

Eventually, Panne did put the ring on my finger. I think she took things too seriously. No doubt giving it so much thought made the scene look more dramatic for anyone watching. Speaking of which, we heard the clapping and "congratulations" coming from the other four.

I couldn't be there anymore. I had to get some fresh air. I asked them if it was possible for them to take us to Clever and my cart. I wanted to get out of there, away from those eyes we had just deceived. The princess and the Exalt wanted us to stay as guests, saying they would provide us with a room and meals for our stay, but I flat out refused them. I may regret that decision in the future… How many can say that they were asked to stay in the palace of Ylisstol by the royals themselves?

We were taken out to where my cart was waiting. Clever was happy to see me like I was happy to see her. Trust me, I can tell. I made sure she was doing well before we could leave. Ser Frederick assured me that they had given her water and food and a nice place to rest. As for the cart, everything was there. I took out one of the dresses Grandma had given Panne and told her she should change, but Lissa had it covered. She had brought along a dress and new boots for Panne to wear. After a quick change, we were ready to go… Except that the Exalt stopped us once again before we could leave.

It wasn't for anything bad. Actually, it was good news, in a way. Since we weren't staying, she wanted to find another way to pay us back for the inconvenience of the other day. I was about to dismiss it again, but then thought there _was_ something she could help us with. The palace would have countless books and records of anything and everything that happens in the Halidom. To any trader, that would be a treasure trove of profit. But, in this case, there was a more pressing matter. I asked her if she could look into movements of taguel in the area, explaining that we'd been told that Panne's warren had moved north years ago, but didn't know how far north. If we could get some information about them, then finding her warren wouldn't take too long.

We left the palace with the promise to return on our last day in Ylisstol. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, being in the palace and meeting the royals. Too bad I didn't get a chance to meet the prince. I've heard that he is a fun guy, though a little dense. I'm not complaining, though. I got enough stories out of _that_ to last me a lifetime. For someone that isn't an adventurer, I can boast about meeting a lot of interesting people, which is more than other peddlers can say.

Normally I would have gone out in search for some bargains to take with me to Ferox, but I didn't wake up in the morning. The sun was already setting, in fact. I decided it was best to call it an early day and head directly for an inn. No use trying to get any bargains at this point, especially with how mentally tired I felt. There was also Panne to consider. She had yet to speak a word since we left the palace. I kept stealing glances to see if there was anything wrong, but I couldn't tell. From time to time, she would stare at the ring on her finger. I think she was trying to focus more on that to ignore the masses all around us. I'd been expecting her to cling to me for dear life, but instead she shot out the whole world and lost in her thoughts.

I love Ylisstol. Not only does it have anything you can think of, but there are countless gathering spots for merchants, like plazas and taverns. It also has a vast amount of inns, each with their own price, of course. The downside is that it is a massive city that attracts people from everywhere. Finding a room can be an ordeal on its own. We visited four places before we found one that could take us in. Just in time too. The moon was already on the rise.

The room we got had two beds, luckily. I didn't want a repeat of what happened during our trip or even having to sleep on a couch. I set down my satchel and laid on the bed for a minute, melting on the comfortable mattress. It wasn't at the same level as the palace, but it was still very comfortable. Panne was looking out the window, her satchel on the other bed.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I finally broke the silence. "The city, that is."

She looked at me as I spoke before turning back to look out the window, her hands on the frame. "It's...different from what I know… You seem very comfortable here." I explained that through my travels, I had the chance to visit many cities and even Ylisstol a handful of times before. I'd grown accustomed to places like them. "...Do you come from one of these cities you speak of, then?"

We'd spoken about my past before, but she hadn't ever directed a question about it without me pushing to know more about her. It was in the same way that you ask a stranger a question to get to know them better and then they ask you the same one. Seeing her take the initiative was interesting. I smiled, happy to see that she was making an effort to get to know me too.

"No, it's nothing like this. I told you before, remember? I'm from a small village in Valm. The place is so small that we all know each other by name. From what you've told me, you could compare it to a warren, except that we, being humans and all, are more reserved about sharing certain things and sometimes stubborn to ask for help. It is a nice place. If you ever find yourself in Valm, you should try to see it. I think you would like it. And it's far from any hunters too! You wouldn't need to hide your ear nor tail from them. Yes, I can see them all now. You would be very popular amongst the women. They all love bunnies. My mother would think you are adorable."

"Bunnies are the most adorable of creatures," she said, showing a sly smile. I chuckled. That was my first time hearing something close to an intentional joke coming from her. She looked satisfied with my reaction, chuckling too until we both heard the sound of her stomach rumbling.

She hadn't eaten anything all day, if what Lissa and Ser Frederick said was true. No wonder she was so hungry. Fortunately, we were already at an inn. All I had to do was go downstairs and get us something to eat. I told her she should wait. I would bring things to the room and we could eat in peace. That way she could also take off the cloak and boots and relax some more. I was ready to get up when she said she would go with me. I tried convincing her to stay, but she insisted on coming. It wasn't a huge bother anyways. We were just going downstairs to get food. She came with me, in the end, but not before I made sure she pulled up her hood again.

With neither of us having eaten all day, I didn't mind spending a few extra coins in one meal. We got our fair share of food and a mug of ale each and headed upstairs, not bothering to look for a spot to sit, even though there were a few of them. All I wanted was to eat in peace, not having to worry someone finding out about Panne. You never know when a drunk will stumble up to you and pull on your cloak. Couldn't risk that happening to Panne, not when we were both tired.

With a locked door separating us from the other guests, I told Panne that it was fine to take off her cloak and boots. She's been very good about keeping everything on, all things considered. If I didn't remind her that it was okay, I wonder if she would take them off. Maybe I'll test it next time…

We sat on a small table barely big enough to hold both our drinks and plates. I hadn't noticed before, but she is a fast eater! For every bite I took she would take two. By the time she was done, I still had half of my plate to go. I wasn't going to finish all of mine by the looks of it, so I put some of it on her plate, telling her that she should make sure to eat well.

"What about you? Won't you go hungry?" I told her not to worry about it. Since I'd been eating bear meat, I was already reaching my limit. Add the ale to that and you have one satisfied Robin. "...Thanks."

I kept my eye on her as we ate. I was unsure if she was alright. She'd been pretty quiet all day. To distract her a bit, I started talking about what there was to do in Ylisstol. I would need to find a buyer for the pepper—a luxury like that won't fetch as much in Regna Ferox—and possibly the herbs too. With our stay here extending, we would miss the window to get the herbs at the highest price. Vulnerary producers needed time to process them. I could sell smaller lots, but that would also cut into my profits because of time. I rather find a big fish than a few small ones. I remembered that the green knight back in Southtown mentioned his family could be interested, so I decided that we should seek them out and arrange a trade for vulneraries. Those will be easier to sell in the north. Panne nodded along as I spoke, but hardly said a word other than "yes", "no", and "I see".

I noticed that she hadn't tried her drink at all. When I pointed it out to her, she said that it had a strange smell. I told her to try it, showing her that it was fine by drinking some more of my own. It wasn't half bad. If only it was cooler. That's something I'm looking forward to having in Ferox. Those guys know their ale.

She started by sipping it, but after a few of those, she was gulping it down like the best of them. I think she liked it, but guessing by her reddening cheeks, she wasn't used to alcohol. Do taguel even have alcoholic drinks? I better ask her that… If I can remember. The good thing about drinking is that it relaxes you, whether you like it or not. She seemed more interested in what I was saying the more she drank, but I doubt she understood better the more she drank. It was still funny.

Like when we were in the cart, I could see her stealing glances at the ring on her finger, even playing with it with her thumb. I told her she didn't have to wear the ring if she didn't want to or liked to except when we went to see the Exalt again, for appearance's sake. It was another silly human custom that she didn't have to put up with.

"I don't mind it. Exchanging rings is something I can't understand very well, but it is a beautiful gesture." She lifted her hand to take a closer look at the ring. "This is very beautiful too. Who ever made it has to be a skilled craftsman. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

I laughed a little. It was amusing to hear her talk about the ring like that. Well, it's up to her to wear it or not. As long as she was okay with it, I wouldn't say anything. We spent awhile talking about some differences and similarities taguel and human society had.

It was time to head to bed by the time we finished our drinks. I offhandedly made the comment that maybe everything that happened on the road had been for the best, all things considered.

She chuckled, which was refreshing. "Except you have a scar on your face now."

"A scar is nothing. Women love scars!"

"For taguel, scars are badges of honor."

I point out that it _would_ be a badge of honor had I gotten it during a fight, not before it even started. We laugh about that, even if it's at my expense. I mentioned seeing her transform, but that I couldn't see her figure too well as my vision was already blurry. For a second I thought that I'd said something I shouldn't have when she stayed silent. But then, she asked me if I wanted to see it.

"See what?" I asked.

"...My bunny form," she says casually, looking at me directly.

I slowly nodded. The curiosity of seeing the process of transformation alone was killing me. I wasn't thinking if it would be amazing, beautiful, or even grotesque. Is that why they say that curiosity killed the cat? Was I being a cat? At least cats have nine lives, or so they say.

Panne stood up and walked to the center of the room, my eyes glued to her every movement. She grabbed the hem of her dress and had it lifted over her navel when I stopped her.

"Wha-what are you doing?! You shouldn't disrobe facing me!" I understand why she had to take her clothes off—she didn't want them to rip again—but doing it like that was too...erotic.

"I'm not ashamed of my body."

I let out a sigh in frustration. "Is this something taguel do? Disrobing in front of others?"

"Of course not." I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to realize my point. "...If it's...you...it will be fine." I think she had too much to drink.

This wasn't my first time seeing Panne exposed like that, but the situation was entirely different. The first time, it was dark, she had my cloak covering most of her, and I was too scared and confused to notice much. There, she was completely exposed, the candlelights illuminating her slim body. I tried looking away, but I couldn't ignore the beauty that was in front of me. Despite not being human, she looked more beautiful to me than anyone I'd ever seen. I know this will be a problem in the future… Every time I look at her from then on, that's the image I'll be picturing in my head...

She told me to keep a close eye on her as she took a stone into her hand. The transformation itself happened in a flash. I can't remember any of it. All I can remember was the result. The beautiful woman that had bared it all in front of me had changed into a large, furry beast. It was intimidating to see because of her size, but amazing none the less. I stood up from my chair to get closer, extending a hand towards her fur. It was soft to the touch and bore a healthy shine to it. She had to be taking good care of it for it to be like that.

"I can see now why you said that you used to sleep together bunched up back in your warren," I said as I kept running my hands over the fur. "Sleeping over something like this would relax anyone. Even the Mad King would calm down!" I unconsciously started petting her head, specifically at the base of her ears. I heard somewhere that bunnies like to be scratched there, and Panne proved that to be true. The more I did it, the more she pushed her head against my stomach.

"Do you mind if I… rest up against you for a bit?" I asked, curious to know just what it was like. Panne simply laid down on the floor and stared at me, waiting for me, I suppose. I found a nice spot between her hind and front legs. It was like resting against a cloud. A warm and fuzzy cloud. I would dare say it was even more comfortable than the bed in the palace.

I remember that as a kid, I loved taking naps in warm places or against my mom. For whatever reason, being like that with Panne in her bunny form gave me that same feeling. The warmth of another living gives this feeling that is hard to explain. I would call it a mix of security and comfort, but those would be lacking.

I don't know for how long I was there. All I knew was that I'd been petting Panne all along. Soon, she had already fallen asleep, but she had turned herself in such a way that had me trapped. Her head and front legs laid on top of my lap. She had wrapped her body around me, which was nice, considering I wouldn't be able to get out of there to get a blanket.

I've been trapped here for a fair bit of time now. I'm not complaining—it's very comfortable. Except for writing. I was able to get my cloak with my foot so I could write, but trying not to spill any ink on Panne is difficult. I can't extinguish the candles either… I'll cover my face with a cloak and see if I'm a bird.

…

I hope she does clutch my leg when during the night. She has a lot of strength in her normal form. She'll rip my leg off if she is as strong as she looks…

—Robin

* * *

Playing around with a few things here. Putting Robin in these weird situations is really fun, hehe!

For those wondering, this takes at least 2-4 years before the events of the game take place. This might change depending on me wanting to explore a few things on the future. For the time being, keep that in mind.

On to reviews!

 **The Other Gy** \- Thanks, man. I try :P Hope this one delivers!

 **potatoman098** \- Well, it'll lead to that, but it's gonna take some time before we get there. But hey! At least it'll happen lol

 **Greyjedi449t** \- Thank you very much. I'm glad to hear you like it. This is the first story I try to make with this sort of narrative, so I wasn't sure how it would work out.

 **XenoEmblem4TW** \- I hadn't thought about that xD Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick introduced in any other way than in a group except for highschool AUs.

 **Drakolf** \- Frederick _always_ strikes. To be fair, it was one of the soldiers that had the initial reaction. I spent a bit explaining what was going on. Hope you don't think it's too silly. I tried to keep Frederick in character, with him taking his job of watching over Chrom and Lissa super seriously.

 **Lucachu** \- Taguel F!Morgan is love, Taguel F!Morgan is life! So adorable. I can't wait to bring her in at some point. Interesting theory as to why she didn't/doesn't notice him as human. Of course, can't tell you if you are right or wrong :P Hey, Spice and Wolf _deserves_ to get more views. Glad I could get you to check it out again :D

 **Rennerd** \- You know, I could swear you did leave a review on the first chapter... When I play FE, I don't look into stats too much on my first couple of runs, so I get the chance to experiment a lot with characters. As for pairings, you are absolutely right. The three top Robin pairings are with Lucina, Cordelia, and Cherche. It's rare to see him with anyone else. I think Robin x Sully is the lowest one, with only 1 fic on here. Grammar, the bane of my existence Dx Ah, I know that whole abandoning a series halfway through thing. I do it all the time. I feel sad that they aren't making a new season for S&W :/ Really wish they did. Ding, Ding, Ding! You are right! Those were Stahl and Sully. I'm even surprised that you got Libra, since that wasn't so "in your face," _but_ you missed the first one that appeared. Donnel was only mentioned briefly, but he appeared on chapter 2 aswell. Hahaha, I think I know what you were trying to say there about Panne. I think that if she had been given a bigger spot on the game, we would've seen some more of that. And for the end, it had to be Emmeryn, you know? I didn't even consider it being Chrom. I'm not sure if I want Robin and Chrom to meet at all, even.

 **EVmeatdrummer98** \- That's what happens when you get involve with strangers. I really want to explore and further the relationship between those two. I think it'll be interesting. But I wonder how long I can go without them being a couple before people start getting frustrated by it xD Also, still working on AGoL. Just for you, I'll let you know that the chapter I'm writing right now is from a new perspective ;) to make up for not posting it yet Dx


	5. Father's Day Special

Let me start off by saying that this chapter is _not_ in a chronological order with the rest of the story. I made it because I can't think of a single story I've seen to commemorate Father's Day. And, as a man, I didn't think that was right. So, I made this little piece as I was working on Chapter 5. I'll eventually move to fit the timeline better, but until then, it will remain here. I also thought about keeping this as a separate oneshot since it is a Father's Day story, but I think the people that will appreciate this the most are the readers of this current story.

This should be considered a "special" instead of a "chapter". It is short, but I had fun writing it and gave me ideas for some fun stuff (much) later down the line.

But enough of that. I hope you guys like it! Let me know what you think by leaving a review. Also, remember to follow and/or favorite the story if you want to see more of it. Enjoy~

* * *

 _Father's day special_

The cool breeze made working on the garden pleasant even with the hot morning sun bearing down on them. In said garden worked a taguel woman, diligently moving dirt around with her bare hands, as she was used to doing since she was a child. Despite her dear husband's insistence of trying to get her to use the small gardening tool set they had, she found them to be too cumbersome and awkward to handle, so if he was not in sight, she favored using her own two hands.

Not wanting to wake up her Robird after the exhausting day of work and an even more exhausting night with her, she decided to do the gardening solo. Having his company was always enjoyable, but doing the gardening by her lonesome self was much quicker—again, hands over tools. Except, she wasn't completely alone that morning. Her children, who'd woken up earlier than herself and been playing until sunrise, decided they wanted to help their mommy with the gardening. It was quite a sigh to see their two little furry bottoms struggling to pull out carrots from the dirt, one at a time, especially with the size of the vegetables they were picking.

"Look, Mommy! Look!" the excited voice of Morgan came as she hopped—she hopped more than walk as she grew older—over to Panne's side. Clutched to her chest and cheek, she held a carrot almost as big as the small half-taguel was. The girl was small like a human her age, but her mental faculties were that of a taguel, growing at an exponential speed with Robin already teaching her letters and numbers. Her toothy smile, white fur and hair, and chubby cheeks made the image all that more adorable for the mother taguel. "It's so big! I wanna show Daddy that I got it all by myself!"

"But Daddy is sleeping," said Yarne as he too made his way over to his mother, grabbing a handful of Panne's dress as he got to her side. Though they were twins and were raised the same way, the two bunnies were very different from one another. Yarne was a calm, shy child. He didn't have a hard time talking with the other kids around the village as much as he did adults other than his parents, but would stay home and play by himself all day if it weren't for Morgan dragging him everywhere she went. Morgan had gained her father's adventuring spirit. She'd always been eager to explore, especially when Panne took them out to scavenge the woods for berries and firewood. Perhaps it also had to with Robin doting on the child in the same way he did to Clever. He would always read to her whenever the girl asked, especially those books about tactics that he'd received for a trade months ago and he couldn't get rid of. He would often praise the girl, saying that she would one day become a great tactical mind the likes of the heroes of legends. Panne was sure that those father-daughter bonding moments were part of the reason he didn't want to get rid of those books.

"Daddy is still sleeping?!" Morgan looked in shock, loosening her grip on the carrot, but catching it in time before it fell on the ground. "Mommy! Daddy is being lazy! We _have_ to wake him up! We can't let him play hookie!"

Panne wondered if the girl knew what "playing hookie" meant, but Panne didn't have a chance to act as Morgan turned around, ready to march back to the house and to her parents' bedroom to wake up her daddy. But before she could get too far, she was lifted off the ground. She found herself in her mother's arms, who sat the girl down on her lap. "Let your father rest, Morgan. He was exhausted last night and still read to you two a bedtime story, didn't he? He even took the time to...talk with me of giving you two more siblings."

"But he was gone for the whole week!" Morgan protested as she turned in her mother's lap to look at her in the eye.

"He worked for the whole week, Snowflake," Panne corrected.

"A whole week…" repeated a wide-eyed Morgan in a low whisper, still caught by Panne's sharp ears.

"Mommy," said Yarne as he pulled on Panne's dress. With his other hand he soothed his thumy. No doubt he was hungry. They'd been working for some time now, and thought the children only got one carrot out for every six Panne did, they had to be much more tired and hungry than she was. "I'm hungry. Are we getting more carrots?"

Panne rubbed her children's heads, eliciting giggles from the two, who in turn hugged their mother lovingly. "I think we have enough for now. How about we prepare something and surprise your father with breakfast in bed?"

"He's sleeping in _and_ gets breakfast in bed? Daddy is so lucky!" Morgan said as she hopped off of her mother's lap and spinned around, the carrot she'd brought to show not once leaving her arms. "I want to make a cake! Daddy _loves_ cake."

" _You_ are the one that loves cake, Morgan," said Yarne. And he was correct. Morgan _did_ love cake, but that had nothing to do with it. Of course, if she could convince her daddy to share with her, then she wouldn't complain about having a slice herself. Yarne knew that was his sister's plan, seeing as their father always shared with them if they asked. "And Daddy said that cake is never good for breakfast."

"Cake is a nice treat, but it isn't healthy to have in the morning, especially for us taguel. That's not to mention the sugar will get you two hyper for the rest of the day," Panne said as she lifted the small basket full of carrots and lead them all back towards their home.

"But Daddy's had cake in the morning before! I've seen him!" Panne stopped. Robin knew he wasn't supposed to have any cake in the morning after what happened last time. She would need to have a talk with him about it in the future. For now, she had to deal with Morgan's persistence some other way.

"When you've grown, then you can have cake in the morning if you like." At the very least, this way she would be able to get her child to drop the subject. No matter how good Morgan's memory was then, she would forget that in a few months time. She had to… Right?

"Okay!" Good.

The small family finally entered their humble home—as humble as a house that has a storefront could be; her Warren. Guessing by the fact that the sign on the front door still marked the store as closed, Panne guessed that her husband still slept. Morgan was right in saying that he had it good. But after everything he had done for her, she thought allowing him to sleep and getting a meal ready for him was the least she could do. Though she (and the children) prefered his cooking, it was the thought that counts, right?

The menu: scrambled eggs served with steamed carrots (obviously) and freshly baked bread. Panne considered for a moment cooking some meat. She knew that Robin liked having some to start the day off, but cooking such a thing was difficult. Bread, stew, and even cake were complex, but the ingredients needed were always the same. As long as one kept to the recipe, it would turn out fine. Meat, on the other hand, was always done "to the taste", which, from their many travels around the world, meant that it would be impossible for her to know if it would taste good. She'd tried making some before, but once it'd been too salty and the second time it was too charred. Either way, Robin always ate it with a smile… It was a nice gesture, except that later he would be sick and even bedridden.

Her little bunnies were also excited to lend her a helping hand. They were too young still to do much, but they were happy to bring over whatever ingredient their mother needed. Inevitably so, some sort of accident had to happen at some point. Morgan tried getting her tiny hands on a sack of flour when she pulled it a little too hard, the flour pouring all over her and the floor. When Panne heard the yelp, she found herself face-to-face with a bunny with fur more white than it should be.

"Oopsy," said the flour covered child as Yarne laughed in the background.

"Morgan went poof!" Yarne said between giggles.

"Wah! Don't be mean! Mommy, Yarne is being mean!" Morgan promptly went to Yarne's side and pulled on his cheeks. "Have some!"

Panne let out a sight. Though it was adorable to see her children like that, there was now a mess she would need to clean up, not counting the two powder-covered children. "Breakfast will have to wait. We need to get you both cleaned first. There should be enough water for a bath."

"But what if Daddy wakes up while we are on the bath?" Yarne asked, concern showing on his brow.

"We will have to hope that doesn't happen. We will be swift. No playing around in the water, okay?"

"Yeees~" Morgan and Yarne both answered.

Panne trusted both of them to get themselves into the tub without getting distracted along the way. Meanwhile, she cleaned the floor as best she could, some of the flour sticking to the flour causing some trouble, but eventually even that came out. Once she was done, she headed to check on her bunnies. Sure enough, they were on the bath having a whale of a time, despite having said they wouldn't be playing. She did scold them, but not even she could stand being displeased when looked by those two pair of big eyes. She sat herself next to the tub, scrubing their fur to get all the dirt and flour of it. And as she did, she couldn't help but notice the conversation going on between Morgan and Yarne.

"Daddy always says that he thinks our ears are cute, but isn't it weird that his are super small?" Morgan asked her brother as she played with said ears on the water.

"That's because Daddy is human," Yarne pointed out with an air of confidence as Panne scrubbed his head. He wasn't wrong. Robin was a human amongst taguel, though that never seemed to bother him. Perhaps it was because there were other humans around the village, including his mother, that it never bothered him. Then again, he never was too bothered by her either.

"Human? Daddy is Daddy!" Morgan argued, which made Panne smile. "We are taguel! Mommy said so! Taguel live with their warren and we are a warren! Daddy is taguel. Don't be silly, Yarne."

Yarne pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "But I heard it from the other kids," he protested. "They are older. They should know. Daddy is human. You, Mommy, and I are taguel. That's why we have long ears and tails while Daddy has small ears like the rest of the people in the village. They are all human too."

Morgan looked at her ears in bewilderment as she stood up. Slowly, her little tail and ears dropped, her eyes glossing over and her lower lip quivering. "Daddy is not taguel…? Uggggh…" Tears mix with the drops of water that were going down her cheeks. "Da-Daddy is a-all alone! I don't want Daddy to be alone! I-I-I wish I didn't have these ears! Waaah!"

It was the most heartbreaking, and yet, incredibly adorable thing Panne had ever witnessed from one of her children. Not only that, but having made her sister cry, Yarne began to sniffle the more he saw Morgan cry, perhaps understanding the meaning behind his own words. It was best to stop this from escalating before it woke up their father. Instead of a home-cooked breakfast, he would get two crying bunnies. Panne kneeled down to take a closer look at them, rubbing both of their heads in a motherly fashion. She would have taken them into her arms, but it was best that they became though little by little. This small comfort would have to do.

"Your father is human, that is true. And no matter how much we try, we can't change ourselves into humans or him into taguel," she admitted, looking at her children with soft eyes and the smiles only a mother could give. "But human or not, he will always be part of our warren. He _is_ your father and he loves you both very much. As do I. Nothing will ever change that. So don't worry about your father. I think he would be sad if you were to lose those ears of yours. He's always said he loves that the two of you took after me."

"H-he did?" asked Morgan, having calmed down significantly to a sniffle. Panne rustled her hair once again and nodded, making both Morgan and Yarne finally smile, if only slightly. Panne was glad that things had been solved before they escalated. Now that they were jolly again, Panne finished bathing them and got them dressed in clean clothes. All they had to do now was continue preparing breakfast. Only then did the three taguel notice the delicious smell lingering in the air.

"Good morning," said Robin as he looked at his family standing by the doorway to the kitchen. He was getting the table ready, with dishes already dealt the appropriate portion for each of them. Panne, Yarne, and even Panne could only look at Robin in both surprise and gloom. They were the ones that were meant to prepare the meal as a gesture to Robin, and yet, he'd done it without any of them even noticing. He must've noticed for his smile dropped as he looked at each of them. "What's wrong? Why are you all looking so down? I thought you guys liked my cooking."

"I am sorry, Robird," Panne said, looking to her side, where their children stood fidgeting. "Truth is, the children and I wanted to prepare a meal for you. Yesterday you looked so tired, we thought it would be nice for you to start your day with a nice breakfast ready."

"Oh…I didn't know..." Robin let out, looking between his family and the plates he'd already up on the table. There was nothing that could be done about it now. In truth, Panne was a little happy. Whether he remembered their promise—when he proposed, he promised that he would cook at least one meal a day for her as long as he could, which he had done until that point without miss—or simply because he got used making breakfast, he'd done them a kindness. Besides, everyone, Panne included, prefered his cooking over hers, even if taguel had a harder time distinguishing flavors than humans did.

Suddenly, a smile crept up to him. "Well, then why not do something else for me?"

Yarne and Morgan both perked up. "What? What?" Morgan asked, excited.

"I think we should spend the day together," Robin said cheerfully. The kids, however, didn't seem as excited anymore.

"But the store is boring," Yarne argued.

"Hey now…" Robin flinched, making Panne chuckle. The man liked his store like it was another child. "Ignoring that, I meant that we should spend it as a family. We will keep the store closed and spend the day doing whatever you guys feel like doing."

"Truly?!" Morgan looked even more excited, jumping up and down in place, her fists shaking. Robin chuckled and then nodded.

"Are you sure about this, Robin?" Panne asked. "Shouldn't we do something you would like to do?"

He walked over to his family, kneeling down in front of his children, who jumped to him immediately and clung to him like slugs. "All I want is to spend time with my family. I've missed all of you dearly this past week. I have to recover my family energy. I don't care what we do as long as we are together."

He lifted the children and gave his wife a peck on the lips, who smiled in response as both Morgan and Yarne giggled. "Now then, how about discussing it more while we eat? I prepared your favorite."

"Carrot stew!~" Morgan cheered as she and her brother hopped off their father's grasp and immediately found their way to their chairs, urging their parents to join them so start the meal. "Come on, Mommy, Daddy! Let's eat! I want Daddy to read to us again after we finish!"

"Calm down, Snowflake. Take your time eating. There is no rush. We do not want you to have to take a second bath so early in the day," Panne scolded.

"Yes, Mommy~"

"We've done a good job raising them," Robin said as he watched the siblings looking all over the table the different dishes Robin had cooked. He wrapped an arm loosely around Panne waist, the taguel leaning her head against his shoulder. "And people thought that taguel and humans could not live peacefully."

"They are growing so fast. Now I understand why my mother always wished for me and my brother to grow as slow as humans do," Panne said as she smiled. "I should be thankful that despite their taguel features, they do grow slower than full-blooded taguel. But I think… I still want more children."

"That is something we can arrange," Robin said with a cheeky smile. "Though I think that's a...conversation we should be having once the kids are asleep."

"Mommy, Daddy! Huuuuurrry!" Morgan and Yarne said in sync.

"Better not keep them waiting," said Panne as she unwrapped herself from Robin's arm and took her place on the table, Robin following suit. Of course, having promised that they would spend the _whole_ day together, their...conversation was interrupted just (in time) before it started when Morgan and Yarne entered their parents room and _demanded_ to sleep with them.

Panne nor Robin complained about it as they moved apart, making space for their children to lay down. Long ago, Robin had told her that the best night sleep he'd ever gotten was when she'd let him sleep against her taguel form—he'd confessed it long after it'd past—but when they woke up with their little bunnies smiling, Robin said that there was nothing warmer or comfortable than waking up surrounded by the people that he loved.

* * *

For all the fathers out there, especially those reading this story, I hope you have a great day!

Also, did you guys know it's my birthday today? If I was married and/or had a child this would be my wombo combo day!

Nothing but fluff here, people. Keep moving!

Jk. I know this is very different from what I've done before for this story. I thought about rewriting it and making it as a diary entry from Panne, naming it a "misplace page" or something like that. It would have been nice, considering the way the story is written. I may rewrite this in the future and make it like that. I would've done it before posting it, but I ran out of time *sigh*

I thought about having Morgan and Yarne talk more like toddlers, but after a few dialogues, that became hard. But, that was also a blessing in disguise, since I can use to to hint at a few other things in there instead, which I thought was waaaay better than having them talk all cute, even if it was harder to read/write.

I kinda want to write about toddler Morgan and Yarne's (mis)adventures now. Is that weird?

Writing this made me fall behind my usual schedule. I already have a chunk of the next chapter written. It shouldn't be long before I post it.

On to reviews!

 **Greyjedi449t** -Thanks a lot! I'm trying hard grammar wise. It does help when I end up rereading the whole thing before I decide to continue writing. Though there are time I end up stuck because I keep changing things that I've already written instead of concentrating on finishing the whole thing xD

 **XenoEmblem4TW** -Hahaha! Yeah, I've seen a few where he is thought to be a bad guy (one of my own stories included), but never something like that. This story has the advantage of it not following the direct timeline of the game, though, so I can't blame people for sticking close to the script that already exists. As for school, I finished that looong ago. I got my Bachelor's degree little over a year ago. School isn't that bad. I honestly kinda miss it because of all the people I could meet. Now I work at a small company with three others and they are all family, so I don't have as many opportunities to meet more people...

 **Drakolf** -Thank you very much! There just has to be more fluff for this pairing, you know? I'm glad I started writing this story. However, fluff comes when it comes! The relationship between Panne and Robin, though there are hints here and there, is meant to be a slow build, which is why for this chapter I was ambiguous as to when it is taking place.

 **allen Vth** -I could have sworn you made a review for this story before, but I might just be confused with my other stories. It happens more often than I like to admit xD Panne is one big bunny, and bunnies are super fluffy, so that means she _has_ to be super comfortable, am I right? I agree about Emmeryn, although it could be argued whether she did it intentionally or not. One thing to remember is that, while there is/will be romance, this story's central theme is family. Romance will be hinted at an build slowly, which was why I wanted to give myself a few in-story years to work with. I don't think Robin would ask that. He had the advantage that both he and Panne had something to drink (more to that on the next chapter). Under normal circumstances, given that they haven't known each other for too long, I don't see him asking her to let him sleep like that again.

 **Acqua Sole** -Thank you very much! I didn't know how people would react to the changes I've made to Panne, given that her personality is OOC for the most part. It's nice to know that people like it! :D

 **The Other Guy** \- I appreciate it! Hope you liked this special!

 **Jaybs** -It shouldn't be rare, dammit! This is an _amazing_ pairing. I'm just doing my part to bring people over to the mighty S.S. Panne!

 **EVmeatdrummer98** -Thank you very much! While neither (well, honestly Panne would, but Robin probably wouldn't) of them would admit it, they formed an instant connection that is hard to ignore. As much as Robin likes to say that he is doing what any other good man would do, the truth is, after the little hishap of chapter 3, most would have cut their losses. I'm going to tell you this: there is more to why he is not leaving her. Remember that, while this is a diary and it is locked on a single perspective, there are things that he won't write off the bat. You could call it a convenient excuse for story purposes, which I admit it is, _but_ if I put everything in a single chapter instead of dragging it out, it doesn't feel as genuine. Can't say much more for now. You know how it is, gotta keep some cards under my sleeve for the future!

 **animeandgamerlover2** -Unfortunately, you're gonna have to wait a bit more for that :P


	6. 3rd of the 2nd month of Autumn

**AN:** Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Too long, some would say. I won't bother going into details about why it's taken so long for me write this (though if you are curious I did explain it on FE:DA's chapter 25th author notes), but just know that I'll be doing my best to get this story back and running again.

I'm slowly working on a sort of schedule for my stories so that I can post more frequently too. Right now I'm thinking about having this one be a chapter every two weeks, but we'll see how that turns out in the future. It may not seem like it because of the long break between the Father's day special and this update, but I really do love to write this story, especially with the severe lack of Robin x Panne stories on this site. I thought I would find a few of them in the site after my break, but to my surprise, this story was at top of the list of last updated... the second one being also another of my stories... Anyways, chapters may be shorter from here on out. I'll try to keep them over 5k each, but I won't be making any promises length wise.

I also want to note that I **made edits to chapter 1** today too. It was mostly correcting grammar and changing the phrasing in a few spots to have it read better, but I also did include the change in height I'd mentioned on a previous AN. Overall, notthing that changes the story at all. I'll be going back to other chapters to correct grammar in the future, but for now, just wanted to let you all know about it.

Without further ado, here's the chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it and continue to support this story by dropping a review. Also, if you really like the story, make sure to follow and/or favorite. Enjoy!~

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Day 3 of the second month of Autumn

We finally reached Regna Ferox last night amidst a small snow storm. I always forget how bad it can get this far north this time of year. It doesn't snow this much south of the wall this early in the year. It makes it incredibly difficult to get your bearings when the entirety of the world around you is carpeted in white, which is why I usually try getting past the border much earlier than this. I would've waited the storm out, but there was nowhere for us to take shelter, so we had to keep moving forward. In the end, I spent a good amount of time warming Clever back up as well as brushing and cleaning her after she saw us to an inn. She well deserved the attention.

Panne had it easy, I would say. She slept through most of the storm on the back of the cart. I even let her use both blankets since her clothes are thinner than mine. Of course, that meant my legs were freezing for most of the trip seeing as I let her use the blanket I would normally use while riding, but I rather have cold legs than have to pay for medicine and what not should one of us get sick, even if I did have a cart full of supply of the stuff we could use. She's been sleeping more and more the further north we move. Perhaps her body wants her to hibernate or something. Is that something taguel do? I could ask Panne, but she is sleeping right now. Maybe later I'll read one of those books the Exalt gave us before we left Ylisse. It was nice of her to go through all the trouble to get that for Panne… except it held us up in Ylisstol for far longer than I had initially intended to stay. I did bring in some more coin by trading inside the city, but it was barely enough to cover the expenses for out extended stay and the added expenses that come from feeding and caring for someone else.

I'm behind schedule already. We were well into the tournament by the time we got here, meaning that I passed the window for maximum profit by only a few days. I'm glad I traded in the herbs I had for vulneraries before leaving Ylisstol, or the cold/frost would've made them worthless. It's not all that bad. With this cold, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a high demand for vulneraries, not to mention the dozens if not hundreds of people getting hurt every day in the name of entertainment because of the tournament. It's all a matter of demand and supply.

I should've gone out searching for someone to buy it all off of me this morning if I didn't think that Clever deserved the extra rest—I was only guiding the cart while she had to _pull_ the whole thing with all that snow without so much as a breather. Poor thing has more than earned her rest. But without her, I couldn't simply push the cart around the whole place, not with the brown slush that's covering the streets and the crowds cluttering them as well. People would make way for a horse-pulled cart out of fear of being trampled. For a man pulling a cart? Not as likely. If anything, they would think it as a nuisance and ignore me altogether.

There's also something else: laziness that I hadn't felt in a long time. I was feeling rather tired this morning. Between the cold and how tired I was, I had half a mind to forget about everything else and simply spend my day in the comfortable bed I was laying on, ignoring any responsibilities that I may or may not have. We were lucky to get a room with two beds this time, especially when the place is completely packed to the brim with a multitude of people sharing rooms meant for a fraction of the number. That being said, this room is more expensive than I would like. I didn't have much of a choice, though. It was either paying for this, risking someone finding out about Panne by taking a shared room, or having something like what happened at Ylisstol happening again... Exalt Emmeryn did tell us that taguel weren't persecuted in Ferox, but I still have my doubts about that… Maybe I'm just being paranoid. But hey! I got a bed all to myself! After sleeping for almost two weeks on the cramped cart with Panne curled up next to me and the boxes of vulneraries to avoid sleeping on snow, this wasn't bad at all. I wanted to stretch out as much as I could to enjoy the moment, but just as I did, I hit something.

"You are awake," I heard Panne say from the direction I felt my hand hit something rather soft and warm. I immediately opened one of my eyes to take a look, having a suspicion of what I would see. Sure enough, Panne was sitting on my bed as if nothing, looking down at me with a faint smile. I've been so used to Panne waking up much later than I lately that I was surprised to see her up. She'd even brushed her hair and put on some warmer clothes I got her when we first arrived—a muffler and a thick woolen shirt that hid most of her curves. I suppose having the fire roaring all night was good for her. Even then the fire was still going, thanks in most part to my fire tome.

Again, I had my mind set on staying in bed and resting, so I retreated my hand from her leg (don't remember how long it took me before I realized what I was holding onto) and turned my back to Panne, telling her it was way too early and to try again later. Unfortunately, I don't think she understood what I meant, as she went to point out that it was already morning. Still, I wouldn't budge, covering my head with the blanket. Childish, I know, but that's besides the point. I don't know why I hoped that pretending she wasn't there would make her go away, because it didn't. She started nudging me instead until I finally turned to face her again, dropping the blanket enough for her to see my glaring eyes.

She was still sitting there, obviously, but I could see that she was just as displeased with me as I was with her; her eyes were practically screaming "get up already" at me. How she could be so lively in the morning after she'd been drowsy for the last few days, I don't know, but it made me jealous. Maybe she just doesn't like being in a confined space or something. I know cats feel safer in cramp spaces, so it could be the opposite for taguel (she told me taguel sleep bunched up sometimes back in Ylisstol, though). Then again, she is sitting on my bed instead of on her own… And not wearing any pants… again. I suppose that's not so bad for her, considering that she's told me that her legs don't get as cold because of her fur. I tend not to question her when it comes to things like that. Still, I'm not used to seeing her half nude, or any woman for that matter. I mean, she _is_ an attractive woman, no one can deny that, especially with her ears out of her usual braids. Taking another quick glance at her leg, I can see the faint scar that was left there from the day we first met, which somehow feels like it happened a lifetime ago.

"Have you forgotten?" She suddenly asked as I turned my attention back up to her face. "You promised to read to me in the mornings."

Sometime I hate past Robin so much. He makes things hard for present (future?) Robin by doing things without thinking too much about them first. I mean, bringing in a strange, naked woman that you don't even know back to your room? Who does that? Actually, no, I can think of a lot of people that would do that—names of a few men and women alike come to mind right off the bat, but I digress. The point is, not only did I take it upon myself to help Panne search for her family, but I went ahead and made another silly promise to her later on…

Damn promises. Damn you, Lady Emmeryn! Okay, wow… That sounds really bad. I feel bad from even writing it. Un-damn you, Lady Emmeryn. She's a nice young lady that doesn't deserve hate from anyone. What I _meant_ to say was, I wasn't feeling like reading those books this particular morning. When Lady Emmeryn told me she'd compiled all the information she could find about taguel, I was expecting to receive a small tome no bigger than the fire tome I carry around at best. How much can humans know about taguel, right? I can't think of a single time I'd heard about about taguel until I met Panne. The answer, apparently, was a lot. What we got was more like an entire _encyclopedia_ about taguel (from here on out, this shall be referred to as the Taguelopedia). From short stories mentioning taguel to their eating habits (I'm still not sure how accurate those are based on what Panne's told me), the Taguelopedia has it all. The whole reason we stayed longer than planned in Ylisstol was because Captain Phila relayed the message that we should stay until Lady Emmeryn was done getting it together. No wonder it took so long! Makes me wonder if the Exalt did it all herself or if she had a poor schmuck do it, seeing as how the handwriting doesn't vary from page to page and is rather pretty, making me think that whoever wrote it all had years of practice in penmanship.

I thought it was a huge gesture from her and thanked her fully for the trouble she'd put herself through. Naga bless her heart, she is too kind, that one. But what neither the Exalt or I were aware of was Panne being illiterate. I shouldn't have been surprised by it. Not many people know their numbers in this world. The number of people that know how to read is a fraction of that—my guess is that number doesn't include many, if any, taguel.

Panne looked so excited and then deflated when she realised she wouldn't be able to read any of the books that I blurted out that I would read them to her on the spur of the moment. Eventually, as the days passed, I decided it would be best if she learned how to read too, so I've been teaching her that since then so she can entertain herself with them while we travel. Who knows? Might make for good conversations in the future. Panne's a good student. I guess when you have something to strive for you will give it your all. Or maybe it has something to do with her being taguel? She did mention before that taguel grow faster. Mayhaps taguel are faster learners than humans are? I should read the taguelopedia and get my answers instead of hypothesizing about it.

Getting back to it, I may not know Panne for long, but one thing I do know about her is that she's not one to back down. She'd been outnumbered when she fought against Ser Frederick way back when. Someone like that won't stop bugging another simply because they don't feel like doing what they promised. So, letting out the longest, most dissatisfied sigh I could muster, I gave in. Almost as if knowing I would, Panne already had one of the books with her, a bookmark popping out from the top, in her arms, clutching it like it was some treasure. She was too eager to start our session, by the looks. When I made to take the book, I could see her smile extend to her eyes and even her ears. Seriously, too easy to read (and I don't mean the book.)

But before I start, I made sure to turn to Panne and narrow my eyes at her. "How is it that you're not cold?" I asked, being genuinely curious. "This weather is killing me!"

Panne looked at me as he furrowed her brow before turning to look at the fireplace and then back at me. "Is this a trick question?"

I'm not sure how _that_ could be even remotely a trick question, but she sure as hell looked at me like it was. "What? Of course not! How did you even— You know what, forget it. Just get under the covers. Just looking at you is making me feel colder."

"Is _that_ a trick...?" Panne questioned me with narrow eyes, making me lose my patience a bit. I pulled the covers from unders her and threw them over her to keep us from wasting anymore time. And before you ask, no, it wasn't some _trick_ to get her in my bed! With that out of the way, I opened the book. Many of its pages were marked with dog ears. I did that, making small notes on them so as to comeback to those sections sometime later if need be. I'll have to work on a glossary later, if this little trip of ours takes longer than it already has. Anyways, I started reading off from where we last stopped. It was mostly some children tales involving taguel. I myself didn't find them that interesting, given that I've outgrown these stories years and years ago. Had my mother read this to me back then, I'm sure I would've been as entranced by the words as Panne was. She was hanging on every word. It was cute, I won't lie. I could practically the stars in her eyes the way she was staring at the words on the book as if trying to read them herself.

When I moved on to _teaching_ her how to read, she started leaning on me more and more quite literally. Her shoulders and legs were pressing against mine quite a bit. I tried moving away, but she did it again after a minute or two apart. I tried moving the book closer to her so that she could take it, that way she wouldn't have to lean on me so much, but she wouldn't take it and stuck to me just the same. Sometimes I wonder if she knows what she is doing, toying with me the same way a flirtatious woman would. Or there could be a simpler meaning behind her actions, like her missing the feeling someone's touch. From what I've learned, taguel can be very affectionate and touchy without having any romantic connotations behind their actions. Either way, I don't know how to feel about it… The attention is nice and all, but I have to remind myself that what's between us is not the same as that of a normal man and woman.

We decided to stop for the day after about an hour, much to Panne's disappointment, when I smelled freshly cooked food. We'd lost track of time, it seemed, because when I looked out the window, I could see it was already noon. Skipping meals wouldn't do us any good with the cold, so I decided we should head downstairs to eat. I had her put on a long skirt, boots, and the coat that I've already accepted won't be mine anymore, as well as doing her braids again to hide her ears before we left the room. We were some of the first people down, but all the private tables were taken, which meant we would need to sit with others on one of the long tables set on the middle of the place. With Panne was still nervous around people, I had her seat beside me instead of across. I even offered her my hand for reassurance, since she wouldn't be able to eat comfortably if she kept both hands on my arm. I think that helped her a lot. She seemed calm enough once we sat down with our plates.

With breakfast also came a bit of an experiment. Though I'd been told otherwise, the taguelopedia made mention of taguel eating mutton often enough that I thought it was worth a try for Panne to give it a try. There was no way I would have her eat only that, so instead I was the one that ordered it so that I could give her a few bites, while she had her usual vegetables. The two of us ate in silence, struggling to do so with only one hand as she refused to let go of my other, but I managed, being used to eat while writing stuff down on my on merchant's log or my travel journal. I began to also notice people staring our way. My mind quickly went for the worst case scenario, thinking that maybe someone noticed Panne's fur or her ears, but as I followed their eyes, I got a better ideas as to why they were staring. With how long we've been traveling together, I've grown used to seeing Panne eat and, more importantly, how _fast_ she does it. I chuckled as I watched their dumbfounded faces after Panne devoured an entire lettuce in seconds.

It was only after she was done that we tried our little experiment. I had a vulnerary ready in case things took a turn for the worse. As I cut a piece for her, I felt Panne's eyes following my every move. I guess she still wasn't used to the whole idea of cutlery. She'd asked me before why I didn't just use my hands instead and took bites off my food. Explaining the whole idea of why we use cutlery to a taguel is not easy, I tell you. I'm not sure she still understands why we humans use them, given that she always leaves hers unused. Instead of taking the fork herself, she just bite off the mutton while I held it for her. It was really embarrassing, believe it or not, because I could see some people snickering and some women "awwing" our way. Panne just stared at me as she chewed, but I had to look away because my cheeks were already heating up. The atmosphere evaporated when someone sat across from us. At that moment I regretted leaving the room at all. Her sudden appearance even sent a chill down my spine, as I knew the woman very well.

"Well, well, well~" she said with that overly sweet tone of hers as she propped her head on top of her hands and stared at me with a devious smile. "What do we have here? If I didn't know better, I would think Robin has got himself a new _lady_ friend! Well, handsome? Tell me, am I being replaced? I didn't know you had a kink for taller women~"

Panne noticed me tense up, her ears faintly rising in her braids as she looked on at the redhead. Meanwhile, I scowled and clenched my fists slightly. This is the only person out there that I can say I genuinely don't like. I still remember our time traveling together… and how it all ended. I say her name as coldly as I can. "Anna."

"Ding, ding, ding!~ Aww, I'm so glad you remember me!" I wanted to spit at how she was pretending we were still in good terms after everything that happened. I could see that she wanted to get something out of me and Panne. I wouldn't let her. "And you aren't denying the kink thing, so I must have hit the nail in the head. Bravo, me~"

"What do you _want_ , Anna?" My words came out cold, laced with venom that would normally kill a snake. But Anna wasn't a snake. No, she was a _spider_ , weaving a net around you until you let your guard down to go in for the kill.

"So cold!" She faked a shiver, rubbing at her arms. I find myself scornful at the attitude she took. "Are you sure you got the right Anna? Did one of my sisters or cousins—"

"You very well _know_ I have the right one," I quickly interrupted. I wouldn't let her have control over this conversation. "Again, what do you _want_? You wouldn't come to me if you didn't want _something_ from me."

"Wellll~" I prepared myself to reject the first thing she would suggest. "Rumor has it that you married recently! Guessing by the ring in your hand and hers," she gave Panne a quick glance, "and the fact that you are openly holding hands and being all lovey-dovey, I would say it's true!"

I cursed myself for letting my guard down. From all the people that could see me with Panne, _this_ Anna was the last one I wanted to be seen by. I could see her smile growing the more I scowl. I didn't want to keep talking with someone I despised, so I stood up, with Panne following after a couple of seconds. I turned my back to the redhead, ready to walk away. "I'm not letting you waste my time."

We were already walking away from the table when Anna stood before us, her hands on her hips and a slight pout adorning her lips. "That's no way to treat a lady, Robin. Even if you are married now." She looked over at Panne. "Is he always like that?"

I wanted to stop Panne from interacting with that woman. Didn't want to see the taguel being influenced by someone I knew had ill intent. "It's the first time I've seen him like this…"

I glared at Anna, refusing to say anything else until she finally gave in.

"Fine, fine! I know you brought some goodies into the city in that ol' cart of yours..."

"Ten thousand gold," I said flatly.

"Oh, come oooon," she whined. "You and I both know you can't have that much on there. I took a peek at your cargo before you came down from your love-nest. I know you may be tired from all your _rigorous_ physical activities, but that shouldn't make you forget your numbers, Robin~" A year ago, I would've laughed or even blushed at her implications. Now? I don't care about them.

"That's my price. Take it or leave it." Again, I made to move walk away, but Anna stopped us.

"Don't I get a 'friends and family' price?"

I rolled my eyes, this time finally feeling like smirking at her in turn. "It's a special price _just_ for you. Don't like it? Too bad. You are the one desperate enough for my supply to the point of approaching me even after everything you did. Believe me, you are getting a good deal at ten thousand. If you want to make a deal, you know where to find me. Otherwise, you better stay as far away from me as possible."

Not really feeling like being in the same _building_ as the sly woman, I left the inn with Panne. I still need to talk with the inn owner to see why there was someone spying on my cart without anyone stopping them. It's not that I'm worried about by cargo being stolen. In places like this one, there is an insurance policy, which is why I was surprised to hear that anyone can just waltz in and look around, apparently. Anyways, we walked around aimlessly in silence for a bit until Panne spoke up. "Robin, are you okay?"

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm fine, Panne."

But she wasn't having it. She was more than strong enough to stop me from walking, forcing me turn her way, "Your heart is racing," she said, looking at me with a scowl now, though not really looking all that angry. It was more like she'd found a boy with a hand in a cookie jar. When I didn't respond, she let go of my hand only to engulf me on a bone-crushing hug. It must've looked silly with our height difference and her resting her head on top of _my_ head. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone else there but us. Still, I wanted to push her away, not really sure how to react to the interaction again. Panne is good at getting me flustered, I've noticed. It's a pain, really. That didn't stop me from melting into her a bit. Taguel really are touchy, but I could kinda see why that was as the anger and frustration that had accumulated in me after spending just a few minutes with Anna washed away. But even as my heart slowed down to its steady beat, she still held me close, even rubbing my back a little. I had to cough a couple of times to get her attention and to show her I was better. She slowly pulled away, looking uncertain herself. "You… knew that woman…?"

I let out a sigh as I scratched the back of my head. I was never much to talk about what happened back then, not even with my closer friends. I guess I was ashamed of it, so it was better to hide it away from anyone that knew me better. I don't like people feeling sorry for me. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But with Panne only knowing me for a short time, I concluded that she would be the best to talk about it with. So I nodded, which caused her to flinch somewhat, though I didn't comment on it. "Yeah… Knew her for a few years. Well, I thought I knew her at least. We even travelled together for a while. The company was nice, you know? Traveling with someone for some time, you get to know them. Maybe even fall for them..."

Her eyes dropped to the floor as she visibly deflated. I wasn't expecting that kind of reaction out of her. Maybe she remembered what that was like or something, I'm not sure. "Is that what happened to you…?"

I scratched the back of my head, looking away. "I did. She didn't. I'm not sure she even saw me as a friend, looking back on it. After a while of traveling together, we both found ourselves with a big deal in our hands that would mean big profit. We decided to go in it as partners, call it half and half. The day of the deal, I woke up to see that she wasn't there. It wasn't uncommon, so I didn't think anything about it. When I got to the place the deal would take place, I expected to see her there, but she didn't show. Our contact didn't show either, so I went searching for him. Turns out, Anna had fulfilled the deal the night before. Pulled the rug from right under me. Not only did she screw me out of that, but she took my investment with her. Apparently, from the way the contract was done, she could do that without any repercussions. _Months_ of work, maybe even more than that went down the stream. I was left with nothing but my cart and Clever, and even those were barely there because of the debt I owed the inn…

"Those were hard times… I almost gave up on everything. I went back home, ready to resign myself into taking over Mother's bakery instead. Thankfully she changed my mind about that. It did take me a while to do so, but in the end, she convinced me that I was still young and that it should only serve me as a lesson in life, not as something that should stop me from pursuing my dreams."

I didn't say it, but I know that my experience with Anna is the reason why I'm still cautious around Panne, despite knowing that she couldn't do anything like Anna did. Feeling too comfortable around someone else could lead me to go through the same experience again still. I can already imagine what it would be like with Panne. Me over thinking her actions, her saying that she treats me like anyone else in her warren… I didn't feel like talking about the subject anymore, so we left the area, Panne grabbing onto my arm like usual, though her grip was rather loose for once.

Seeing as we'd already wasted away most of the day, I decided to ask my contacts if they'd heard of anyone seeing taguel around the area or any rumors related to them in hopes that it would give us something else to think about. Unfortunately, every single person we asked gave shook their heads. No luck… Instead of giving some hope to Panne, she seemed to deflate every time to the point that I could barely feel her by my side. To add insult to injury, those same people seemed more interested in Panne than they were to answer my questions. She remained quiet through it all, which was worrying. I had to excuse ourselves whenever their line of query crossed a line that I didn't feel comfortable with. Eventually, I grew worried with Panne's silence, but thought it best for us to return to the inn before discussing it. It was already getting pretty late anyways, with the moon already illuminating our surroundings.

As a way to avoid Anna—if she was hanging around the area that is—I decided we should eat in our room tonight. I ordered something I thought Panne would like from the menu and got myself a light meal, seeing as I wasn't that hungry. With plates in hand, we walked up the stairs and into our room. Panne stood with me until I locked the door. With no table to sit on, I had Panne sit on my bed with our food while I got the fire going. The room was too cold as it was. Being able to see your own breath indoors is never a good thing. Once more I used my tome to get the fire roaring in no time before I joined Panne, sitting close to her to share some of our warmth.

"You've been oughly quiet this whole time," I told her as we ate. I'd been stealing glances at her and was surprised to see her eating so slowly, which only added to my worry. "What's bothering you?"

Her hands lowered to set down her food. I could see her ears, now out of the braids, dropping slightly. Her voice came as a whisper. "I did not mean to bring up a painful memory for you…"

"Is that what's bothering you?" I asked. I could see her hesitation as she nodded. I've grown used to her always looking into my eyes when we talk that it's weird for her to look so dejected about something like that while avoiding eye contact. I couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not, but it made me smile a bit. This time it was me who rubbed circles on her back. "It all happened long ago, Panne. Don't overthink it. I'm over it all at this point… Well, I'm over _her_ , not about her stealing my gold and all that. Besides, it's as my mother said: it was a good life lesson."

She bumped her head with mine, resting it there for some time as I kept rubbing her back. Slowly, I could see some of the usual Panne coming back, but I was still worried about her. "Don't worry yourself over nothing, Panne," I continued. "You should be thinking more about finding your family than worrying about me. I'll go check the market in the morning and then we can head out and look for more information again in the morning."

She stood up suddenly, taking me by surprise. She set down her plate on the nightstand between our beds before slipping under the blankets of her own bed without a word. She threw down her clothes on the floor between us and gave me a full view of her exposed back, which she didn't bother to cover with the blankets. I don't know what I said, but she was upset by it, somehow. Following her example, I also set down my half eaten food and decided to call it a night.

I got under my blankets, but before doing anything else, I covered my eyes with my forearm and thought about everything that happened that day. It's strange how things can go from being bad, to pretty good, to depressing, to strained in a single day. If I could avoid Anna for the rest of my stay in Ferox, I would be happy to do so, but even I know that is hopeful thinking.

It was while lost in my thoughts that I feel some movement in my bed. I lowered my arm to see that Panne got in bed with me at some point, her head resting on my shoulder and her arms wrapped around me. I can also feel her legs doing the same, which left me feeling baffled and not quite understanding what she was doing, especially given how...lightly dressed she was. Was she still trying to make amends for what happened?

"Panne?" I said out loud, but that only got her to hide her head into my shirt. "We got a room with two beds for a reason, you know…"

My words were ignored.

Even as I write this, Panne is sleeping soundly with me. She is making it hard for me to write or even concentrate at all on what I'm doing. This position isn't the best for writing, I tell you. I know the taguelopedia said that taguel sleep bunched up to feel safer, but that makes me wonder: does she not feel safe? Does she need reassurance for something? Or is she supposed to be providing me with some? It's hard to say what goes through Panne's head. Taguel and humans sure are different… I don't know if I'll be able to sleep at all tonight. I find myself running my left hand over her arm and back, sometimes running it through her hair or playing with her ears a bit. I'm not sure if she's bothered by it or not. All I can see is her tail moving underneath the blankets.

Gods, give me strength to make it through this night…"

—Robin

* * *

 **AN** \- So, a slight change of tone compared to others chapters, I think. First, I want to talk about the timeskip of sorts. That'll happen a few times in the future, mostly to denote the change in environment and to get things rolling a bit faster. I have a fair bit of ideas for what will be happening while our protagonists are in Ferox that could push the story way forward, but I'll see how things turn out from here first. I do take into account what my reviews having to say about this, so let me know what you think or even if you have suggestions or ideas for small plots.

I'm also open to prompts for other "lost pages" chapters (helps to write about the couple, but they would be short enough that it wouldn't take long to write and distract me too much from the main story.)

Next comes Anna. I had a ton of different ideas as to what I wanted to do with Anna, mainly involving the business side of the fic. However, though that is fun and all and will still show up, I thought that giving a bit more backstory and struggle for Robin and Panne would do them good and flesh out their characters. I still haven't decided if _this_ Anna is the same one from the game or not. I'll have to give that a bit more thought. Also, I'm sure there will be other Annas that will appear in the future, which will give me a chance to use some of the other ideas I had in mind for them.

Lastly, it's Panne. I'm very interested to hear what you think is going on there. I obviously can't say much without giving it away, but I like to think it's in your face enough that it can't be missed.

 **Reviews:**

 **XenoEmblem4TW** —Thanks! I glad to hear you liked it. As for the vessel thing, I can confirm that it will come into play at some point in the story. Like I'd said before, the events right now are taking place a few years before those of the game, so it might not seem like they are related, but they _will_ happen at some point. It'll likely be the last arc of this story and I'll work through most of it quickly, only focusing on the big events of the game.

 **patattack** —Thank you very much! Given the tone of the chapter, I think it would be very strange if I'd done it any other way.

 **Drakolf** —I think this story's love developments fall under the category of "will they or won't they". I like the idea of them growing close together over a period of time, but not really being sure about their feelings, which is why Robin has shown so much conflict from the beginning. As for Panne, well, this story's perspective is locked to Robin, so you guys won't get a chance to see what's going on with her outside of what Robin sees/mentions/thinks.

 **EVmeatdrummer98** —Thank you very much! Happy (very, very, very late) Birthday to you too (half birthday now, I guess?) You and me both. I really want there to be more stories with this ship. Maybe with this update some more people will be inspired to start their own stories? I can hope, right? You flatter me. It's words like that that made me come back to this story time and time again, rewritting this chapter so many times until I put my foot down yesterday and decided it was time for an update. Hopefully this will be up to par with the other chapters!

 **Lucachu** —Robird for Robin and Pabbit for Panne! Like I'd mentioned on ANs for the chapter, that was mostly meant to be a special. You can think of it as a "lost page" within Robin's journal in a way, even if it's written in third person. I might make others in the future too. Don't worry though, you'll be able to tell if they are a special or not based on the title c:

 **Greyjedi449t** —Gotta love those fluff-centric chapters. They are a blast to write every once in a while. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

 **The Other Guy** —Thank you very much for you kind words. I think I took your "no rush" to heart, hehe. Jokes aside, hopefully I can keep to a better posting schedule this time around!

 **allen Vth** —Who wouldn't want that to do that with all the baby fat that they probably have on them? Makes me want to draw a little taguel Morgan holding a carrot. I could definitely work on a sequel. Well, maybe... We'll see about that once this story is done first.


	7. Valentine's Day Special

**AN** **:** I'm sorry about the delays, guys. I know I said there would be an update sooner, but a couple of things are going on that are keeping me from writing as much as I would like. The main one is in the form of a cat that I recently got. Had to make sure she got used to the house and all that good stuff. Don't worry though, know that this story is still being worked on, just don't expect it to be on a regular schedule for a while. My goal still is to publish two chapters a month, though.

This time around, I bring you another special! It may be a bit late in other places, but here it's still 9:49 PM on the 14th, so I'm still making it. What kind of special could it be? Well, Valentine's of course! Mostly an excuse to write some fluff for one of my favorite pairings while using this setting I've already established. Like the Father's day special I did before, I'll probably move this chapter later on so that it makes more sense chronologically. I did this in about three days, so I'm not so sure if it's up there with some of the other chapters I've published for this, but I had fun writing it, so I don't regret publishing it either.

I should also mention that I'm about halfway done with the next chapter. If things go well, that should come out next week, maybe. For now, go check out this chapter and let me know what you think by leaving a review. If you like the story, remember to follow and or favorite it! It's always nice to see those numbers go up! Enjoy~

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Finally, the day of the Festival of Flowers was upon them. While not a widely celebrated event throughout Valm, it had always been quite an important affair in Robin's village, for it celebrated the first harvest of since winter. As a child, the festival was something he'd always looked forward to. There was good food to be had, music that would cheer up anyone, a few stalls set up for the children to play and win prizes, and everyone was there to celebrate together. As a young man with more knowledge of the world, he became aware that the best part of the festival was the dance. Everyone of age that had a significant other was welcome to participate. It was meant as a bonding sort of event for couples, which was nice...except Robin was always there alone, meaning he never took part in it. There were a few girls around his age that he could've asked or gone out with, but they'd all found other people before he realized it. The longer he went on as a single man, the more he dreaded the festival, to the point that once he became a peddler, he made sure to avoid getting back to the village around that time of the year.

Robin hadn't planned to be in the village for it that year either. Had he had it his way, he would've been back on the road before things started going up around the village center. That was the original plan. Things, however, don't always go as planned. And so, the peddler found himself in his childhood home, waiting in the kitchen while sipping a nice, warm cup of tea. He'd been checking his inventory all morning long. As an adult, it would be expected of him to prepare a stall on the third and last day of the festival. Luckily, all his traveling around meant that he'd collected more than a few trinkets from all over the Valm and Ylisse. He had a nice variety of things that were inexpensive, but interesting enough for people to want to buy for themselves. It was all a matter of finding a way to get something out of it all.

While he was falling back to his old ways, a door behind him was opened. Turning around, Robin was greeted by his mother, who looked surprised to see him, but smiled nonetheless. "I thought you wouldn't be here until much later," she said. "Didn't you say you were looking for things for your stall?"

Robin chuckled, thinking that she was making some kind of jest. When her only reaction was to tilt her head at him expectantly, he raised an eyebrow. "That was in the morning," he said, hoping that she would catch the hint, but when she didn't, he was forced to explain more. "It's been four hours since, Mom. It's almost noon! I've been sitting here for an hour! You even answered back when I called out before coming in."

"You did?" The older woman's eyes widened in realisation. Robin thanked the gods that they lived in a village where everyone knew each other and crime was practically non-existent. People were so trusting that they would leave their homes unlocked at time, only locking them if there were rumors of bandits roaming the area. "Well, I'm sorry, dear. Time flies when you are having fun, doesn't it?"

Robin narrowed his eyes at her. He had a bad feeling about this. While he was checking his cart, his mother had insisted on having Panne over and talk. She'd also said that she would help the taguel get ready for the festival while handing over some traditional clothes to Robin, consisting of dark green trousers, a white shirt, and suspenders. "What did you do, Mom? Where's Panne?"

"Oh, don't give me that," she said dismissively, swatting a hand his way, feigning hurt for only a second before smiling again. "I did it all for my only son. You'll be thanking me soon enough." Turning back to the doorway she came in from, she waved over to the other side. "Now, why don't you come out here and show Robin what he's missing, hm?"

Robin was slouching on his seat, his head resting on his open palm, not sure what to expect out of it all. He'd imagined that his mother would lend Panne some clothes that would suit her, but he hadn't imagined something quite like what he saw. Almost instantly his back straightened when Panne entered the room. He'd seen her wearing dresses before, but this was different. The sleeveless one-piece dress wrapped around her neck, showing off the fur and skin of her shoulders. It also created an interesting cleavage in the form of a diamond, which was both elegant and enticing at the same time. The white fabric was a good contrast to Panne's slightly tanned skin, making it look even smoother than it already was, somehow, and tempting the peddler to check if it felt as smooth as it looked. She wore a golden bracelet on each wrist, which paired well with the ones at the base of her ears she'd been wearing for so long now. Her hair was in the same style as always, with braids wrapping around her ears, but there were also a variety of blue flowers—mostly forget me nots—that had been weaved into her hair. The dress, unfortunately, covered Panne long legs, only leaving her ankles and sandaled feet in view. The last thing he noticed was how the small bump on her belly was much more noticeable with that style of dress than her usual clothes, but not large enough for anyone to assume that she was with child at first glance. As his eyes finally met Pannes, she folded her arms in front of her, showing him a smile full of confidence that was contagious.

"I told you he would like it," said Robin's mom to Panne, who chuckled at the sight of Robin being awestruck. Turning back to her son, she asked, "well? You shouldn't keep a lady waiting. Have anything to say?"

Turning his attention back to Panne, Robin was surprised to see her wearing some makeup too. Never before had the taguel shown any interest in makeup other than understanding what it was, but not wearing it. How his mother was able to convince her into wearing it was a mystery, but Robin was thankful for that too. Her lips were a nice pinkish-red that made them irresistible, while her eyelashes looked longer than ever before. There was also a hint of blue on her top eyelids. "Umm…" He scratched at his cheek, knowing he'd gone silent for far too long. "Panne, you look… Wow…"

Panne's smile grew wider, enchanting him even more. It all would've been quite nice...had they been alone. While Panne and Robin simply stared at each other, his mother was giggling louder and louder until she felt like she had to say something. "Well, that's a start, I suppose. It makes it all worth it, doesn't it? I always wanted a daughter, so I'm happy to finally have one that I can dress up. It was nice of you to let this old lady treat you like her doll, Panne."

"It was fun, Mother," Panne said, making the older woman's smile grow wider. "I liked hearing about Robird's younger years. He doesn't talk much of his childhood unless I really insist on it."

"That's only because there isn't much to say about it," Robin quickly said as he got up with a grunt and walked over to Panne, who took his arm in hers. "I had a good childhood, but there isn't anything really memorable about it that I would talk about. Just your typical kid stuff, like playing around, going exploring, sneaking out to swim in the lake..."

"I find those to be all very interesting," said Panne. "Human children aren't too different from taguel children, but that doesn't mean that we did the same things for fun. You once said you learned to write and read from your early childhood, for instance. That isn't something we taguel ever worried about until much later in life."

"That would be because of me," said Mom, who snickered. "My son hated having his lessons because it cut into his mischief time with his friends. Maybe that's why he never got into too much trouble and doesn't remember many of his stories. Then there is his early childhood… But I suppose you wouldn't remember those. I, for one, remember dressing you up as a girl when you were still a babe."

"You did what now?" Robin asked in shock. _That_ was something he didn't remember about at all and was glad for it. As a child, he remembered finding a box full of girl's clothes hidden away in his mother's closet (he was looking for sweets at the time, knowing his mother always hid them in the same place.) When he'd asked her who's they were, she'd never given him a straight answer.

"Oh, don't worry your head over those things. It's in the past! Besides, back then no one could tell whether you were a boy or a girl. You couldn't even walk. I'm not surprised you don't remember it at all." Panne chuckled while Robin groaned. "I still have that box around. Maybe we can pass it along when the little one is born."

"You're assuming the baby will be a girl," he quickly pointed out.

"If you have a boy, we still have all your regular clothes too, you know."

"You are both assuming there will be only one child…" Panne looked at them both, but frowned at Robin specifically. She'd explained to him before that it was rare for taguel to give birth to a single child at a time. But it was still a possibility, seeing as twins, triplets, and so on were much more rare in humans. Still, he wouldn't assume that having more than one would be out of the realm of possibility.

"That's true," he said, which calmed her down enough that she was no longer frowning.

"Well, we will know for sure in a few months time. By then a healer will be able to tell how many you are carrying," said his mother cheerfully. The prospect of finally becoming a grandmother seemed to please her to no end. Robin could already picture her spoiling the child (or children) rotten if he and Panne weren't careful. With a look out the window, Robin and Panne were shown to the door. "You two need to get going or you'll miss the start of the festival. People won't be wait for you before they start, you know?"

"W-wait, Mom," Robin protested, holding onto the doorframe of the front entrance to the house. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"Oh, no, no. I wouldn't want to intrude. You two are still young! This is a perfect time for you two to enjoy a date. I'll go there later, don't worry. I'm meeting up with some of the other old ladies, so just make sure you two enjoy yourselves!"

Robin finally relented, knowing there would be no way that his mother would change her mind. Although, thinking back on it, it was strange to think of the festival as an opportunity for a date when he and Panne were already married. If the bump on Panne's belly wasn't proof of it, then the wedding band each of them wore would do it. Then again, they'd never had a date before. They would do a lot of things together, but nothing that could really be called a date. Perhaps this would be an opportunity for it. Like his mother had said, it was a perfect day to enjoy one.

"Should we go, then?" he asked. With a little nod from her, they were off to the village square. The surroundings were nice enough that time of the year. The grass was green, the air was clean, and he had a sweet lass by his side. What else could he ask for? Seeing no one else around as they walked, Robin decided to be a bit more...bold? Or would it be affectionate? Either way, he decided to wrap an arm around his wife, laying his hand on her hip. She seemed taken aback by it, but didn't push his hand off, which was a victory for the peddler. "You know, you really do look quite beautiful today. N-not that you don't look beautiful everyday or anything, but— ugh…"

Hearing Panne giggle, he looked up to see her smiling at him. "Thank you, Robird. Mother said you would like it. You look very nice too, except I don't understand what those things are." She pointed at his suspenders. "I've never see you wearing anything like that before. It look like it's keeping your pants up, but then you're also wearing a belt. Why is that?"

"It's part of the festival's tradition," he explained. "Married men will wear suspenders, while single men do not. I don't know if there is any deeper meaning to it. It's just the way things have always been. In women's case, those that are not yet married will have lilies in their hair while married women use flowers of whatever color they chose."

Panne looked thoughtful for a moment. She always was one to take things too seriously, which wasn't a bad thing. It always made him wonder what she was thinking about. It brought back memories of a times when she wouldn't speak her mind so openly. She'd gotten better about it over time. Robin had too. "What about Mother? She doesn't have any flowers on her hair."

"Well… Widowers don't have to uphold those traditions unless they want to." He could see from the corner of his eye how her ears drooped a little. This was bad. The mood would be ruined if he didn't say anything about it quickly! "Don't worry, Pabbit. Mom's never been bothered by it. She even jokes about it from time to time. I guess that after father, she never really had any motivation to remarry. I can somewhat understand it. If something were to happen to you and I was left to raise our children by myself, I think I would dedicate myself to that completely."

She leaned her head on top of his, wrapping her arm the same way he had. Though it was nice, the conversation was taking a depressing turn. Robin mentally slapped himself for being so insensitive. He was practically talking about her death! No one would like that sort of thing being said. He had to think of a way to change the subject, fast.

"You know," he began, taking a quick glance around to see if there was anyone there. Confirming that it was only the two of them, he continued, "though you do look lovely today, there is just one thing I would change about your outfit."

His words were enough to catch Panne's interest, who looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Oh? And what would that be?"

She jolted when Robin moved hi hand from her waist to her bum, and then to her tail. She flushed instantly, something quite rare with Panne. From their time together, Robin had found two of the easiest ways to have her blush were to either kiss her ears or play with her tail. It was quite nice, really, especially when she didn't push him away. She would sometimes complain about it, but he knew that she secretly liked it, seeing as how she was always trying to hide her smile afterwards. "I wish your tail wasn't so well hidden."

The two laughed for a while, and Robin knew that the mood had been saved. From then on, it was smooth sailing. The two chatted as they walked about things that had been happening around town until they reached the stall. Robin went on to explain how adults would work on different days so that the children would want to come out every day of the festival. It also attracted a lot of people from other villages, who were always interested in taking part of another village's festivals. The taguel volunteered to man the stall Robin was in charge of, despite him insisting she didn't have to. When she said that she would enjoy spending the time with him, he gave in.

Before long, the couple were greeted by some of the other villagers. The children ran circles around them, asking Panne if she would dance with the boys, while harassing Robin for sweets or whatever he had. The little ones had become more devious ever since they'd met his wife, but he knew that they were good on the inside—deep, deep, a hundred layers deep inside. Besides, they were always treating Panne nicely, so he'd learned to turn the other cheek. That didn't stop Panne from teasing him about getting jealous. Despite him denying it, she knew the truth, saying that she could hear it and even smell it. Robin had to remind himself that hiding things from her was an almost impossible task.

The village square was all set to go by the time they got there. Musicians were in place, there were tables and chairs circling an area that would turn into the dancing area, and most people were already there, from the village chief, who was exchanging words with the butcher, to Robin's mother, who'd gotten there much faster than Robin and Panne after they'd taken a more scenic route.

While waiting for the event to start, they got to talk with some of Robin's childhood friends, who were quick to tray embarrassing him with constant teasing and reminiscing about all the stupid things they (mostly him, in their stories) did when they were young. Panne was loving it, laughing about it and insisting they continued telling stories, much to her husband's dread. Robin was thankful when they were forced to stop when the village chief asked for a moment to give a speech, which, honestly, wasn't anything Robin hadn't heard before, so he tuned it out rather quickly. Panne, however, looked quite enthralled by it, which was funny in its own way.

Everyone cheered at the end of the speech. Robin knew he wasn't the only one that had blanked out during most of it, given how surprised many people were when the clapping began. "Without further ado, let us begin the festival with the dance," said the chief.

The musicians took that as que to get ready to play, while couples began to flood the dancing area. Robin grabbed Panne's hand and tried joining them, but when he felt that she wasn't moving, he turned to look at her. She looked nervous and worried, which was quite strange. The taguel had long gotten rid of her fear of being surrounded by humans, so Robin knew that at least that wasn't the reason behind her reaction. "Is everything okay, Panne?"

"I…" She looked hesitant, her eyes almost pleading him to not go through with it. Only then did Robin realise what the problem was, with Panne confirming it herself. "I don't know how to dance. It isn't something I ever did growing up, especially after I got separated from my warren…"

 _That's it!_ Robin thought excitedly. It was the perfect scenario for a date! Grinning at her, he gave her hand a squeezer, which seemed to ease her worry. "Then let's use this opportunity for me to teach you," he said with confidence. "I'm not the best dancer in the world, I'll admit, but neither is anyone else here. No one will judge you if you don't know how to dance. We can keep it simple. And if you don't like it after the first song we can sit down and enjoy the music still. What do you say?"

Panne looked hesitant, her toes curling in her sandals as she debated what to do. Robin had been looking forward to a chance to share a dance with Panne seeing as how they'd never done it before. He wanted her to at least try it once so that she could decide whether she liked it or not before dismissing the idea. If she didn't like it, he wouldn't force her to continue, of course. The dance was a big part of the festival, yes, but there were other things they could do or go see to enjoy it all. Not knowing what her answer would be, all he could do was look at her with a small smile, hoping she didn't feel too pressured into letting him have his way. "There's no harm in trying it…"

Showing her a growing smile, Robin finally dragged them both towards an open spot in the dance area. In the brief moment before the music started playing, he had them get on the correct stance, with him putting a hand on her waist and another holding one of hers. It was a good thing that men lead women in dancing. Had she been the one trying to teach him, he wouldn't be sure how everything would work out. As they were, things started quite rough. Panne was having a hard time following his steps, which prompted Robin to slow down. Even if they didn't move to the rhythm of the music, it was best to take it slow and teach her enough that way before they tried to sync with the others. Thankfully, Panne was a fast learner. She went from stepping on his feet while looking down to spinning around in glee and looking directly at him in before the second piece was over. Then again, the musicians were playing long melodies as well.

As they both became comfortable dancing with one another, Robin could tell his wife was much more relaxed by the way her muscles had loosened up. It was nice to see her having such a good time with something new. It was funny to think how far they'd gotten since they'd met. He began to reminisce about it out loud, with Panne joining in to tell her version of certain events. It was nice to have her there with him. Their relationship hadn't been an easy one, but it was well worth it in the end, especially whenever he could steal a glance at her growing belly—a constant reminder that they had something to look forward to in the near future.

Panne slowly began to lean her head on his as the songs began to slow down to a more romantic dance. It was mostly swaying from side to side, what they were doing, but neither of them felt bothered by it. He could feel her nuzzling against him, taking small whiffs of his hair. "You do that more often now," he pointed out. "Smelling my hair, I mean."

Panne hummed in agreement. "I like your smell."

"Could it be because of the pregnancy? I've heard that pregnant women have sharpen senses."

"I don't mind it."

Robin chuckled. "You weren't saying that when you were vomiting… I clearly remember you saying that you would kill me for putting you through that."

She pressed her body harder against his. "I didn't mean it, you know?"

"I know, I know." There was a comfortable silence between them, which lasted until the music stopped. By then, Panne was looking a bit tired. Knowing that she shouldn't push herself, the peddler convinced her they should go take a rest somewhere a bit more private while they waited for the food to be served. But no sooner had they stopped dancing had the kids come running to them, asking them to play with them. Some of the more cheeky ones tried convincing Panne to dance with them, but Robin had to explain that she couldn't. Trying to do so without saying anything about their baby was difficult. In the end, he was teased about being jealous once again.

After freeing themselves from the rest of the village, Robin took Panne to the lake. It was far enough from everything that they wouldn't be bothered, but not far enough that it would take them a long time to get there and then get back. They sat down on the grass, looking towards the water. Panne tried sitting behind him, but Robin stopped her before she could.

"It's a bit backwards for you to sit behind me and cuddle me when you're pregnant," he argued.

"But I like it," the taguel shot back. "You never complained about it before."

Robin blushed and looked away. "T-that's not the point. We shouldn't be squeezing your belly like that, with the baby and all…"

Though it wasn't the best argument he could've given her, she didn't seem to mind switching places this one time. She sat between his legs, her back resting against his chest and her head on his shoulder as they enjoyed the view. Robin took the opportunity to rubbed his hands over her growing bump, which made Panne smile as she kept his hands in place with her own.

"You were right," Panne suddenly said, turning her head slightly to look at him. "I like it here. There are a lot of good people living here. I'm surprised you decided to leave. I wouldn't mind staying here for longer."

Robin gave her words some serious thought. They'd been travelling since they first met, stopping for a week or two at most in a single place. It wasn't bad back then, but with a new family member on the way, that sort of lifestyle could be problematic. The last thing Robin wanted was for Panne to go into labor while they were in the middle of nowhere. The life of a peddler meant being constantly moving around. Even if they were lucky enough to have a healer attend Panne during childbirth, how would they handle a child traveling around like that? Plegia was too hot, and Ferox too cold. The baby could get sick. Not to mention having little rest…

"Maybe we should stay here," Robin said. Panne furrowed her brow at him. "I have enough money saved up that we could get a nice place here. I could open up a shop to keep us fed. Mom could help us raising the children. I'm sure she'll like that."

"What about your dream?" She shifted in his arms. "You'd said that you wanted to open up a store in a big city. This isn't even a town…"

"Dreams change," he answered dismissively. "Back then I didn't think I would be married to a beautiful woman, let alone have her carrying my child. Right now, I think this is more important. Just think about it! It's not gonna be the same thing, but… We can have our own little warren here! We don't have to fear people hunting us down, or anything like that. We can just live in peace."

"A warren…" she whispered the word tentatively. Slowly, her smile grew wide. She turned around in his grasp, hugging his neck and pushing him down on the ground before Robin knew what was even happening. She pressed her lips against his, and he returned the kiss in earnest. "We will need to increase our numbers many times to make it a good warren."

Robin chuckled nervously. Though the idea of having more children was attractive, they still didn't know what parenthood was like. It could be great, or it could be a living nightmare. At least he could take comfort in knowing that they would be there to support each other through it. "Leeet's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. For now, we should head back and give the news to Mom. I'm sure she'll be happy to know about it. Since you told her about the baby, I think it's my turn to break the news."

Panne's eyes widened. "I thought you told her about it…"

Robin's eyes widened as well. They only laid there for a while, not sure how to react. Finally, both of them burst out in laughter. Robin had to wonder, if his mother had known about the baby before they'd mentioned it, did she already know that they would be staying too?

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 **AN:** Like I said, just a bit of fluff. I had a few random ideas running around in my mind and this gave me the chance to write them down. It could also give you an idea of the timeline, which I won't go into right now. At first I was planning for this to take place at some point after the father's day special, meaning toddler Morgan and Yarne would be showing up. But, I decided against it, seeing as I wanted to concentrate a bit more on Robin and Panne's relationship over the family dynamic.

I also wanted to mention that I sat down a few weeks ago and wrote a very loose outline for this story. So far, there will be 21 chapters in total (not counting specials). That number might change depending on whether I drop ideas or get new ones. I just thought I should let you guys know about it. I did say that this wouldn't be a super long story from the start. Still, 21 chapters is kinda a lot... isn't it? What's considered short or long in fanfiction anyway?

 **Reviews:**

 **XenoEmblem4TW —** While the idea of making this a completely separate universe from the game's is attractive, I do see a lot of potential in how this Robin becomes the game's Robin and then going into that story. I'll probably only focus on super important events in the game's story, but it should still be fun. Also, Morgan and Yarne meeting their younger selves? It has to happen, am I right? And yes! Anna... I did want to play around with that whole aspect based on the support, but thinking about it a bit more, I still don't know whether this Anna will be the Anna that joins the Shepherds later on.

 **Drakolf** —You know, I had about ten different ways I wanted to bring in Anna, but I thought it would be nice to give Robin a bit more backstory by including her, while also taking advantage of it and giving another character a bit of character development if she becomes a reoccurring character. You bet it had an effect on Robin. You could say that the reason he doesn't think anything at all of Panne's actions stems from what he went through with Anna. I know this isn't exactly a chapter, but I hope you like it!

 **EquinoxWolf** —Thank you!

 **Greyjedi449t** —I'm glad to hear you liked it!

 **allen Vth** —No hard feelings there. I didn't update for a loooong time, so I understand. Ah, good question. Considering that he has/will interact with a bunch of different Anna's, he can tell them apart. It also helps that (according to the wiki) each Anna's name is pronounced differently, which I thought was interesting. Heh, you got me there, seeing as that was a bit of the play I was planning for Anna and Panne. How that affects things, well, that'll be a mystery until at least next chapter. Both Basilio and Flavia will be showing up, yes. One of them is popping up next chapter, actually, so look forward to that!

 **Windlightning** —Oh? That makes me really happy to hear/read, you have no idea! I'm really enjoying building this whole headcannon for taguel, so I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as I am. I think it was a shame that the taguel weren't explored much more during the game's story. Knowing things about them during Panne's supports is good and all, but seeing as it seems to be a big part of Ylisse's history, I thought it would have a bigger impact on certain events. So, this is my way of fixing that...kinda. Anyways, don't worry about sounding like you are rambling. Half the time when I write these responses I feel the same way, haha!

 **EVmeatdrummer98** —Thank you very much! If you enjoyed that, hopefully you'll like everything that I have planned. Not only do I already have the outline based on what the major event of each chapter will be, but I also have a somewhat clear idea of how things will change between Robin and Panne between each chapter. I could only imagine how difficult it would be if someone suddenly cuddled up to me while I was trying to write something. It's hard enough to do it when laying down! I keep picturing Robin accidentally dripping some ink on her cheek or something.


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